Join us for the VALS Visiting Artist Lecture Series featuring Nguyen E. Smith!

This in person event will be held at Dock 72 in the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

Hosted by our Fine Arts MFA program, VALS is one of several free and open-to-the-public events we offer each year. Follow us on Instagram @prattfineart to see what’s coming up, and we look forward to welcoming you soon!

Nyugen E. Smith is an artist living and working in Jersey City, NJ. His practice revolves around the construction of narrative through the prism of Black cultural identity. The manifold ramifications of European colonialism across the African Diaspora serve as the foundation upon which his practice is constructed. Smith adopts a rhizomatic methodology, characterized by its non-linear and interconnected approach, as a means of conceptualizing and realizing creative expression. Guided by the metaphorical roots of this colonial legacy, Nyugen is interested in the dynamic interplay between various thematic nodes, including architecture, language, performance, ritual, trauma, DNA memory, climate change, and migration. These thematic nodes are woven into the fabric of his practice. The inherent poetry of their relational dynamics guides the creation of the work. Central to his practice is an emphasis on the utilization of pre-existing materials, the body, and play, within the art-making process.

1 Dock 72 Way Map
718-560-2072