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Nona Faustine

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Nona Faustine
Born1977
Brooklyn, New York
NationalityAmerican
Alma materSchool of Visual Arts, The International Center of Photography at Bard College

Nona Faustine is an American photographer and visual artist who was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York.[1]

She is a graduate of the School of Visual Arts in New York, NY and The International Center of Photography at Bard College MFA program.[2] Her work focuses on history, identity, representation, and what it means to be a woman in the 21st century.[3] Her work is in the collection of the Brooklyn Museum,[4] and the Carnegie Museum.[5]

Early life and education

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Faustine was introduced to photography as a child. Her father and uncle were amateur photographers, and Faustine's first camera was a gift from her uncle.[6]

Faustine was initially inspired to become a photographer by a series of Time Life books. She was influenced by Diane Arbus, Richard Avedon, and photojournalist Ernst Haas.[6] However, at a young age Faustine struggled to find herself in the histories of photography she encountered, which focused on photographers who were disproportionately male and white.[6]

Faustine received a BFA at the School of Visual Arts in New York. She earned an MFA at the International Center for Photography-Bard College program in 2013. As an MFA student, Faustine began to move away from the traditional documentary model. "It just didn't work for me anymore. I wanted more room to play with communication. Conceptual works appealed to me."[6]

Faustine began to work on "White Shoes" as a graduate student. Influenced by Lorna Simpson and Carrie Mae Weems, Faustine began the series as her thesis project in 2012 and continued to add to it over the subsequent three years.[6]

Mitochondria (2008–)

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In the ongoing series "Mitochondria", Faustine photographs herself, her mother, her sister, and her daughter in their shared home in Brooklyn, NY. The work illuminates both the strength of their familial bond and their interdependent destinies. The New York Times[7] observed that the series is "a celebration of the power of African American women to nurture family, even in the direst circumstances. The series’ title refers to the mitochondrial DNA encoded in human genes, which is inherited solely from the mother. Through this scientific metaphor, the series commemorates the continuity of African American womanhood from one generation to another . . . .The series also underscores the role played by women of color in the struggle for equality and justice. Historically, African American women were marginalized within mainstream feminism. Nevertheless, they were able to turn to and embolden each other in the face of prejudice, even before the advent of the modern feminist movement."[8]

"White Shoes" (2015)

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From Her Body Sprang Their Greatest Wealth (2013), from the series White Shoes, at the National Gallery of Art's showing of Afro-Atlantic Histories in Washington, DC in 2022

The White Shoes series portrays the history of slavery in New York through a series of nude self-portraits taken in former locations significant to the slave trade. The series also engages with representation of the black female body.[6]

This work is based on Faustine's research on the history of slavery in the five boroughs of New York City, including slave burial grounds, slave markets, slave owning farms, and the landing spots of slave ships. Standing in white shoes, she reminds viewers how often African-Americans must adopt white culture. Posing on a wooden box at locations around New York where slaves were once sold, "baring her flesh to history, she conveys the most fundamental horror of the slave trade, the way it reduced people to mere bodies, machines of muscle."[9] Her 2016 exhibition at Smack Mellon was reviewed extensively. The New Yorker's Alexandra Schwartz wrote, "Faustine's photos serve to mark the places that belong to a history too often hidden from view, whether by design, or neglect, or the ever-frenetic pace of change inherent to life in New York."[10]

"My Country" (2016)

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"My Country", Faustine's solo exhibition at Baxter St. Camera Club of New York, presented works from the "White Shoes" series, as well as a series of photographs of monuments. The monuments, including the Statue of Liberty and The Lincoln Memorial, are pictured with a black line slicing through the image. The Village Voice wrote that her work was "a frank rendering of America's disgraceful and all-too-buried legacy of marginalization" and explained the impact of the monument photographs: "the graphic interruption stands for the scores of mistreated Americans for whom such structures and their supposed representation of the common good have remained inaccessible"[11]

Publications

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White Shoes, Nona Faustine et al., Mack - 2021

Performances and exhibitions

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Awards

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  • 2024 Rome Prize in Visual Art at The American Academy in Rome[20]
  • 2019  Anonymous Was A Woman
  • 2019  Colene Brown Art Prize
  • 2019  Finalist in the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery Outwin Boochever Competition

Collections

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References

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  1. ^ Kim, Demie (December 26, 2016). "New York Artist Nona Faustine Exposes the City's Slaveholding Past". Artsy. Retrieved March 2, 2019.
  2. ^ "» "Nona Faustine," The Whiteness Issue". Retrieved March 2, 2019.
  3. ^ "Nona Faustine". artspacenewhaven.org. Retrieved March 2, 2019.
  4. ^ "Brooklyn Museum". www.brooklynmuseum.org. Retrieved May 4, 2020.
  5. ^ "CMOA Collection". collection.cmoa.org. Retrieved May 4, 2020.
  6. ^ a b c d e f "Nona Faustine's Nude Self Portraits Expose New York's History of Slavery | Broadly". Broadly. Retrieved November 28, 2016.
  7. ^ Berger, Maurice (July 11, 2017). "Three Generations of Black Women in Family Photos". Lens Blog. Retrieved December 3, 2022.
  8. ^ ""In Brooklyn, Three Generations of Family Photos"". New York Times. Retrieved July 11, 2017.
  9. ^ Jones, Jonathan (August 5, 2015). "The scars of America: why a nude artist is taking a stand at slavery sites". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved March 11, 2017.
  10. ^ "A Living Monument to the Ghosts of American Slavery". The New Yorker. December 28, 2016. Retrieved March 11, 2017.
  11. ^ "Nona Faustine: My Country". Village Voice. Retrieved March 11, 2017.
  12. ^ Foundation, Ford. "Ford Foundation Announces Opening of Its Art Gallery Focused on Social Justice, Offers Details of Inaugural Exhibitions". www.prnewswire.com. Retrieved March 2, 2019.
  13. ^ "Harvard's Complicit History with Slavery". Hyperallergic. February 26, 2019. Retrieved March 2, 2019.
  14. ^ "Exhibition Review: Refraction: New Photography of Africa and its Diaspora". Musee. April 27, 2018. Retrieved June 7, 2018.
  15. ^ "Making Them Known Artspace".
  16. ^ "Nona Faustine Exhibition". Baxter St. November 7, 2016. Retrieved March 12, 2017.
  17. ^ "MAMI". The Knockdown Center. Retrieved March 12, 2017.
  18. ^ "Race & Revolution: Exploring Racial Injustices Through Art | Governors Island". Governors Island. Retrieved March 12, 2017.
  19. ^ "The Future is Forever: Ten Years of the ICP-Bard MFA Program". International Center of Photography. February 23, 2016. Retrieved March 12, 2017.
  20. ^ Nietzel, Michael T. "American Academy in Rome Announces Winners of the 2024-25 Rome Prize". forbes.com. Forbes.
  21. ^ "Audio Stop 956". www.nga.gov. Retrieved May 20, 2023.
  22. ^ "Brooklyn Museum". www.brooklynmuseum.org. Retrieved May 20, 2023.
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