Shakira Howard, also known as How Abstract, is a Jersey City, New Jersey–based abstract conceptual artist. A native of the 201 area, she earned her Bachelor of Arts from New Jersey City University (2013) and a Master of Arts in Art Education from PennWest Edinboro University of Pennsylvania (2016). She currently works as an elementary and middle school visual art teacher for the East Orange Board of Education.

Howard’s practice centers vulnerability and conceptual inquiry, exploring the origins of creation, the human condition, and themes of life, death, and rebirth. Her work often features humanoid forms; frequently a feminine presence, that dominate the composition, emphasizing openness and fragility. In other works, the figure dissolves into or adapts to luminous, fantastical, and colorful environments, becoming camouflaged within imagined worlds. Other pieces move beyond human presence entirely, examining living and nonliving forms that exist within the vastness of the universe, reflecting on existence itself.