Sonya McAlister utilizes a combination of painting and installation to explore perception. By carefully selecting and transforming objects, she makes work that obscures what is physically present while referencing the two dimensional picture plane. This process creates an illusion that works metaphorically to communicate ideas about tangibility, temporality and physicality.

Sonya received her MFA from the University of Florida in May of 2009. She attended Ringling College of Art and Design, and then completed her Bachelors Degree in Studio Art at Mars Hill College. While growing up she moved every few years graduating high school from Carol Morgan School in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Currently she lives in Saint Petersburg Florida aboard her sail boat.