Denae (Nae) Howard

Denae (Nae) Howard is a Black American interdisciplinary artist and native New Yorker. Her practice examines constructs of societies views of beauty and politics in regards to the surface tensions of America within media, Her work explores the revitalization of subjugated people by those with the same struggle. She studies colors established by pop-cultural icons in new media, reflexive ideologies in photographic portraiture, and visual disparities as a result of systemic racism, classism and gender binaries. Employing a strong background in printmaking and graphic design, her work critiques the politics around skin. Understanding the power of images, she creates paintings, collages, music, sounds, animations, murals, and movies that evoke notions of conscious and unconscious concepts conceived through racist views that allow alternative narratives of blackness. 

 

She is currently working on an array of projects focusing on instances of re-appropriating negative archetypes and stereotypes to reclaim and transcend positive meaning for black and brown people. Her work is a coded-guide that promotes discussion that reveals the similarities and differences in the way individuals’ experience the systems that are currently in place. Not to be confused with propaganda, Nae’s work is a testament to her existence as a Black Femme in modern day Amerikkka.