Invested in the intersection between restriction and liberation, Alexandra Giannell’s painting practice engages phenomenological discussions around the body, vision, and perception, considering aspects of imprisonment and reformation, mass-displacement and genocide, and notions of afterlife. Her works consider time and accessibility through light sensitive materials, as well as semiotics and the potential of the mark, often employing subtractive and additive haptic mark-making processes to interweave a sense of presence and absence. Informing her work, Giannell has been an Artist in Residence with the Marek Maria Pienkowski Foundation researching the Majdanek Concentration Camp in Poland as well as the inaugural Artist in Residence with the Alabama Prison Arts + Education Project through Auburn University collaborating and teaching in two medium security men's prisons.

Her work has received multiple awards including the Florita Eichel Memorial Purchase Award from the Evansville Museum of Art, History + Sciences in Evansville, IN and the Foy Gilmore Goodwyn Memorial Award from the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts in Montgomery, AL and has been exhibited nationally and internationally including recent group exhibition at the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art (UMOCA) and solo exhibition with the Lakemont Museum of Art in Orem, UT. Giannell is also active in national conferences such as SECAC, FATE, and CAA.

Giannell holds a diploma in Visual Arts from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, a BFA cum laude in Painting with a minor in Art History from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and MFA summa cum laude in Painting from Clemson University. Currently an Assistant Professor of Painting with Florida International University, Giannell has formerly held full-time faculty positions with Auburn University, Indiana University Bloomington, and Utah Valley University. She was also the Gallery Coordinator for the University of North Carolina at Charlotte’s Rowe Galleries and has remained active with jurying and curation. Originally from New Jersey, Giannell has lived throughout the U.S. and in Europe, and currently resides in Miami, FL.