About Nakeya
Howard County
Nakeya Brown was born in Santa Maria, California in 1988. A 2017 Snider Prize award winner, Brown has generated a vast body of work that uses photography to explore the complexities of race, beauty politics, and gender. She received her Bachelor of Art from Rutgers University and her Master of Fine Arts from The George Washington University. Her work has been featured nationally in recent solo exhibitions at the Catherine Eldman Gallery (Chicago, IL, 2017), the Urban Institute for Contemporary… more
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The Refutation of Good Hair
In The Refutation of “Good” Hair, the historically used phrase "good hair" is examines the consumption of ideas in regards to race, power, and beauty. Through a combination of portrait and still-life imagery the new visual interpretation criticizes the ideology that certain hair types are “good”—soft, silky, and mimetic of Eurocentric hair characteristics—which insinuates that hair types not fitting into that standard are less desirable and less beautiful.
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Nakeya BrownOne Image Story is an online curatorial project created by Maria Kapajeva. It is a collection of two-minute stories told by the artists themselves about one image that has been chosen through discussion with them. The project is an ongoing archive of stories from all over the world. The selection of the artists is based on the ideas in their work with rather than their gender.
Gestures of My Bio-Myth
Gestures of My Bio-Myth is a visualization of the bio-mythography, a concept invented by Audrey Lorde that refers to a specific genre of literature. She argues that the bio-mythography is a form of storytelling that pairs actual occurrences of the past with imagined details relating to the scene, setting, and characters.
If Nostalgia Were Colored Brown
If Nostalgia Were Colored Brown utilizes objects associated with home life and beautification processes as building blocks in constructing identity and black feminine spaces of self-care. Each tablaeux is a site where memoirs, intimacy, womanhood, culture, and blackness converge in order to cultivate a sense of nostalgia. Iconic imagery of Diana Ross, Minnie Riperton, Stephanie Mills, Deniece Williams, Natalie Cole, LaBelle, and Melba Moore display the commercial potency of black women's bodies in popular culture.
Xpressions: Black Beauty Still Lifes
Xpressions: Black Beauty Still Lifes uses the camera as a tool to invent “Black feminine space” that is crafted out of remembered experiences and the collective culture of womanhood. Using primarily still life, the series seeks to broaden the interpretation of objects, and how they "speak" to an audience, evoke shared moments in history, and elicit new meaning for both artist and viewer. These objects depict the prosaic interior spaces touched by Black women across generations; the kitchen, dresser tops, bathroom cabinets, hair salons, beauty supply stores, braid shops, and other public/private spaces of everyday life emanate from the work.