J Taran Diamond (they/them) is an interdisciplinary craft artist, curator, and craft educator based in Athens, Georgia. They currently study and teach at the University of Georgia, and hold a BFA from the University of North Texas. Diamond’s work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, including exhibitions at New York City Jewelry Week, Munich Jewelry Week, and the Czong Institute of Contemporary Art in Gimpo, South Korea. Outside of the studio, Diamond is an advocate for black people in academia and works to help dismantle the systemic barriers that make higher education inaccessible to black people.

In this body of work, I am interested in the intimate nature of jewelry and objects, and their relation to the immutable human need for closeness with others. In particular, I am interested in the ways in which man-made objects facilitate and imitate that closeness.