Nyugen E. Smith

BUNDLEHOUSE: BORDERLINES NO.3 (ISLE OF TRIBAMARTICA) (2017)

Nyugen E. Smith's work addresses historical and present-day conditions of Black African descendants in the diaspora. Trauma, spirituality, language, violence, memory, architecture, landscape, and climate change are primary concerns in his practice and are clearly encapsulated in his mixed media drawings and sculptures, part of an ongoing series the artist started in 2005, titled Bundlehouses. These works are poignant condensed vessels of ideas to meditate on, take notice of, and transform into future actions, understanding the legacies of colonialism that exist today. In the artist's own words, "these things that exist within a landscape remind us of the past, tell us about ourselves in the present, and also continue to reveal themselves and be present in the future."

Nyugen E. Smith is a first-generation Caribbean-American interdisciplinary artist based in Jersey City, NJ. Through performance, found object sculpture, mixed media drawing, painting, video, photo and writing, Nyugen deepens his knowledge of historical and present-day conditions of Black African descendants in the diaspora. Trauma, spiritual practices, language, memory, architecture, and climate change are primary intersts in his practice.

Nyugen holds a BA, Fine Art from Seton Hall University and an MFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. His work has been presented at the Museum of Latin American Art, Peréz Art Museum, Museum of Cultural History, Norway, Nordic Black Theater, Norway, Newark Museum, and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, El Museo del Barrio among others. Nyugen is the recipient of the Leonore Annenberg Performing and Visual Arts Fund, Franklin Furnace Fund, Dr. Doris Derby Award, and Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters and Sculptors Grant.