BIOGRAPHY

Tia Nichols is from Newport News, Virginia. She completed her Bachelor of Arts in Studio Art with a concentration in Printmaking and a minor in American Sign Language and Deaf Studies from the University of Virginia (UVA) in December 2018. She will complete her Master’s in Fine Arts from Wayne State University in Detroit in May 2022.

Nichols has exhibited at the Scarab Club, Detroit Artist Market, and Art Mile. She has plans to have work represented at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American Art, East End Gallery of Marshall, MI, and Jacksonville State University in Alabama. She currently has work installed at the Michigan Legislature and has work in permanent collection Jacksonville State University Art Department Gallery. She has shown with Manhattan Graphics Center (MGC), Downing Gross Cultural Arts Center of Newport News, VA, and Ruffin Gallery at UVA.

Currently, she is a Curatorial Assistant to Wayne State Galleries and the Carr Center of Detroit. Recently she has been awarded to serve as the Graduate Curatorial Assistant at the Southern Graphics Council International (SGCI) Puertografico conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico 2023 and received the Awagami Paper Award with SGCI for the Madison, Wisconsin conference of 2022. 

https://www.moemoeproco.com

ARTIST STATEMENT

I have become very interested in breaking down the language and processes of printmaking and papermaking. Lately, my exploration has grown into an understanding of how to deteriorate substances with hopes to increase sustainability. Though these materials may not have much longevity, and the question of archival stability may arise, my goal is simply to create. A wise printer, Amos Paul Kennedy Jr., once told me, “It’s not our job as the artist to make works archivally sound. Our job is simply to create and put art in the hands of the people. Let the archivists figure the rest out.” Holding this message close to my heart and keeping it in mind while pursuing my practice, I am choosing to work with materials that raise awareness of substance abuse and my intersectional background. 

My recent work focuses on the continued development of my interests in supporting our environment, but also those who are living with mental challenges associated with post traumatic slave syndrome I am curious about endangerment. To live, but only as though there were no tomorrow.

Endangered species are “anyone or anything whose continued existence is threatened”. Society has normalized the dwindling population of chickens, various bird species, pigs, and cows for mass consumer culture. However, media desensitization to the dwindling population of black bodies for God knows what, will always leave pits of stomachs palpitant. My work compares studies of endangered animal species to populations of targeted minorities. I focus on the identities of Black women and our battle regarding mental health, triggers, coping mechanisms, and being a “strong Black woman”. However, I also focus on the identities of Black men and women experiencing Black joy. A form of resistance designed to combat trauma.