Work samples

  • Install
    Install
  • Fabulous Phoenix
    Fabulous Phoenix
  • Acent African
    Acent African
  • Afro Curls
    Afro Curls

About Nakeya

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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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. 

  • Fabulous Phoenix
    Fabulous Phoenix
  • Afro Curls
    Afro Curls
  • Pick-N-Pose
    Pick-N-Pose
  • Accent-African
    Accent-African
  • Like Natural
    Like Natural