Nydia Blas
Born 1981, Ithaca NY
EDUCATION
2016 MFA, Art Photography, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY
2011 BS, Cinema & Photography, Ithaca College, Ithaca, NY
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2024 TBA, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham AL, February
2023 The Silver Woman: Becoming Afro-Latina, Abattoir Gallery, Cleveland OH, November 18 – December 22
2023 Love, You Came from Greatness, Johnson Museum of Art, Ithaca NY August 19, 2023 – January 7
2018 Black Magic, Corners Gallery, Ithaca NY, June 26 – July 28
2018 Whatever You Like, Over The Influence, Los Angeles CA, April 15 – May 13
2016 The Girls Who Spun Gold, Handwerker Gallery, Ithaca NY, August 31-October 12
Selected Group Exhibitions
2022 Crossings: Itineraries of Encounter, The Blackwood, University of Toronto Mississauga
De Objetos y Sombras / Of Objects and Shadows, Center for Photography at Woodstock
2022 Picturing Black Girlhood: Moments of Possibility, Express Newark, Newark NJ
2021 What We Know: ACP 2021 Ones to Watch, MINT Gallery, Atlanta, GA
with, all & in-between, Candela Books & Gallery, Richmond, VA
2020 Say What You Want to Say, Los Angeles Center of Photography, Los Angeles CA
Unseen Forest, Minor League, Athica, Athens, GA
Photo L.A., Virtual Collect & Connect
2019 Joop Swart Masterclass exhibition, World Press Photo, Amsterdam, Netherlands
What She Sees, The Lola, Atlanta G.A.
Seeking Tongues: Postcolonial Photographies, Landmark Gallery: Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX
This body of mine, Strange Fire Collective, Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design, Milwaukee WI
Curiosa, Paris Photo Festival, Paris, France
New Visions on Contemporary Photography, Imago Lisboa Photo Festival, Lisbon, Portugal
Art in Ad Places, Streets of NYC, New York NY
Radial Survey, Silver Eye Center, Pittsburg PA
Art Atlas, Harvester Arts, Wichita KS
2018 Vigilance, Struggle, Pride: Through Her Eyes, Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb, Croatia
ALTAR: Prayer, Ritual, Offerings, Photoville, Brooklyn Bridge Park NY
Into the Light, Daniel Cooney Fine Art, New York NY
The Wing, Brooklyn, N.Y. & Washington DC
2017 Albert Weisman Award Exhibition, Columbia College, Chicago IL
The Feeling is Mutual, Rangefinder Gallery, Chicago IL
2016 The Trouble With FlesH, Light Work, Syracuse NY
I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, The George Washington Carver Museum Austin TX
Syracuse University MFA Show, SU Art Galleries, Syracuse NY
Physical Experience, Spark, Syracuse NY
ACADEMIC TEACHING
2019-Present Spelman College Assistant Professor, Department of Art & Visual Culture, Atlanta GA
2013 to 2016 Syracuse University, Adjunct & Teaching Assistant, Department of Film and Media Arts, Syracuse, NY
COMMUNITY TEACHING
2023 High Museum of Art, Atlanta GA, Instructor, Photography
Course: A History of Photography through a Southern Lens
2023 Fine Arts Work Center, Provincetown MA, Instructor, Photography
Course: Constructing the Photographic Image
2022 High Museum of Art, Atlanta GA, Instructor, Photography
Course: As They Appear to Be: Constructing Images Through Photography
2021 High Museum of Art, Atlanta GA, Instructor, Photography
Course: Storytelling Through Smartphone Photography
2020 Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Snowmass Village CO, Instructor, Photography
Course: The Art of Seeing
2018 Ithaca College, Image Text MFA, Instructor, Photography
Course: Photography as a Tool
AWARDS & RESIDENCIES
2024 Distinguished Fellowship for Winter Residency, Penland School of Craft
2021 One to Watch, Atlanta Celebrates Photography
2021 The Division of the Arts Carnegie/Rockefeller Priority Award, Spelman College
2021 10 Best Photography Books of 2021, Smithsonian Magazine
2021 Hundred Heroines List
2021 Silver List, Silver Eye
2021 Photographing Black Lives list by Artsy’s Curatorial Team
2020 Lit List, Authority Collective
2020 10 Women Photographers to Watch, Photographic Museum of Humanity
2019 Joop Swart Masterclass, World Press Photo
2019 One to Watch, British Journal of Photography
2018 Selected Talent, 6X6 Global Talent Program: North and Central America, World Press Photo
2018 Light Work Grant, Light Work, Syracuse NY
2017 Women In Photography (WIPNYC) Grant & Mentor Program
2016 Best of Show, MFA Show, Department of Transmedia, Syracuse University
2016 The Center for Photography at Woodstock, Woodstock, NY
2015 Constance Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts, Ithaca, NY
PUBLIC LECTURES/PRESENTATIONS/PANELS
2023 “Artist Talk” Johnson Museum of Art, Ithaca NY
2023 “Artist Talk” Image Text, Cornell University, Ithaca NY
2023 “Artist Talk” Fine Art Works Center, Provincetown MA
2022 “ Black Girl Futures Artist Talk & Makers Space” Cornell University, Ithaca NY
2021 “Woman and Work,” Duke University
2020 “The Age of the Female Gaze,” Belfast Photo Festival
2020 “Artist Talk” Virtual, Royal Academy of Art
2020 “Artist Talk” Virtual, Georgia State University & Royal Academy of Art
2019 “Keynote lecture” Society for Photographic Education: South Central Chapter Conference, Lubbock TX
2019 “MFON Photo Salon” Magnum Foundation, New York, NY
2018 “Women’s Perspectives” Organ Vida International Photography Festival, Zagreb, Croatia
2018 “We the Girls Who Spun Gold” Cornell University, Ithaca NY
2017 “Women Picturing Revolution” Light Field Festival, Hudson NY
2017 “Art is for Empathy” Winnipeg Underground Film Festival, Canada
2016 “The Girls Who Spun Gold” Center for the Study of Culture, Race, and Ethnicity Discussion Series, Ithaca College, Ithaca N.Y.
2016 “As Bad As I Wanna Be” Panel Discussion, Community Folk Art Center, Syracuse NY
EXHIBITION CURATION
2023 We Need Love, African Diaspora Museum, Pittsburgh Yards, Atlanta GA May 11th – June 8th
2021 The Great Return, Spelman College, Peter’s Street Station, Atlanta GA October 8th – November 10th
PUBLIC COLLECTION
California African American Museum, Los Angeles, CA
EDITORIAL WORK
2023 “Danielle Deadwyler’s Gravity-Shifting Intensity.” The New Yorker. 26 Feb.
2023 “ She Took on Atlanta’s Gangs. Now She Might Be Coming for Trump.” The New York Times Magazine. 2 Feb.
2022 “Two-Card Monte: Why Mastercard And Visa Rarely Shut Down Scammers Who Are Ripping Off Consumers.” BuzzFeed News. 29 June.
2022 “Angelique Kidjo Has Heard It All.” The New Yorker. 27 June.
2022 “Apps and Oranges: Behind Apple’s ‘Bullying’ on Trademarks.” The New York Times. 11 March.
2022 “The Artists Turning Nina Simone’s Childhood Home Into a Creative Destination.” The New York Times Style Magazine. 16 March.
2021 “Real Estate Industry Works to Change Its Way.” The New York Times. 17 August.
2021 “Her Family Owned Slaves. How Can She Make Amends?” The New York Times. 7 July.
2021 “Shaped by Black Lives Matter, Gen Z watches Chauvin trial with cynicism and urgency: ‘What’s next?’” The Washington Post. 3 April.
2021 “The racist legacy many birds carry.” The Washington Post. 3 June.
2021 “The youngest victims of a national calamity, and the people they left behind.” The Washington Post. 8 March.
2021 “The Activists Working to Remake the Food System.” The New York Times Style Magazine. 19 Feb.
2020 “Five Kwanzaa Celebrations Around the Country.” The New York Times. 21 Dec.
2020 “Meet Some of the Supporters Who Helped Deliver the Election to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.” Time Magazine. 13 Dec.
2020 “Blaire, Erskine, Best Actors of 2020.” New York Times Magazine. 9 Dec.
2020 “Chef Mashama Bailey on Getting Her Seat at the Table.” Harper’s Bazaar. 25 Nov.
2020 “Chairman of Elite of Elite Wine Group Resigns Amid Its Sexual Harassment Scandal.” New York Times. 6 Nov.
2020 “Swept up by police.” The Washington Post. 23 Oct.
2020 “I Moved on her Very Heavily”: Trumps Accusers Speak. The Atlantic. 11 Sept.
2020 “Lonnie Holley.” The Wire Magazine. 12 Aug.
2020 “From Alabama to the Capitol, the Journey to Honor John Lewis.” The New York Times. 27 Jul.
2020 “A Reset for Entrepreneurship.” Bloomberg Businessweek. 26 Jun.
2020 “The Mean Girl of Morehouse Returns.” Level Magazine/Medium. 29 April.
2020 “How Far Can Abused Women Go to Protect Themselves?” The New Yorker. 13 Jan.
2019 “Navigating Two Communities, Isolated From Both.” The New York Times. 30 May.
2018 “Being Women: Poetry and Imagery.” The New York Times Magazine. 17 Aug.
2018 “Rape at Rosie’s.” New York Magazine. 18 June.
2018 “Tracy K. Smith.” The New York Times Magazine. 10 April.
PUBLICATIONS
I Came Into This World High As A Bird. © 2023 Fall Line Press
Revival. © 2021 Kris Graves Projects/Monolith
Journal Publications
Simple, Dark, and Deep: Photographic Theorizations of As-Yet Schools
Pfohl, S., Ayers, B., Turner, A.R., Godfreed, A.B., Zecchin, M., Borowoski, M., Ito, K., Efeoglou, E., Moore, R., Wittig, M.D., Young, C., tujak, l., Thorne, A., Fletcher, B., Stevenson, E.D., Mañero, J., Maeso-Broncano, A., Mesías-Lema, J.M., Escaño, C., Hurley, Z., Spear, K., Brynjolson, N., Sanders, J.T, Lewis, T.E., & Blas, N. (2021). Simple, Dark, and Deep: Photographic Theorizations of As-Yet Schools. Postdigital Science and Education.
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
2022
Cresswell, Joanna.“Magical Photos Exploring The Shared Experiences Of Growing Up As A Black Woman” Refinery29, 24 June. 2022. Web. https://www.refinery29.com/en-gb/nydia-blas-photos
Black Matrilineage, Photography, and Representation: Another Way of Knowing. Cornell University Press, 2022.
2021
Rosen, Miss. “The Artist Creating Scenes of Black Girl Bliss.” Blind Magazine, 26 April . 2021. Web.
https://www.blind-magazine.com/news/the-artist-creating-scenes-of-black-girl-bliss/
“When Time Stands Still.” Frames Magazines, January. 2021. Print.
2020
Milowitz, Samantha. “The Girls Who Spun Gold.” Musee Magazine, 6, August. 2020.Web.
https://museemagazine.com/features/2020/8/6/the-girls-who-spun-gold
Black, Holly. “The Photographer Who Spins Black Girls Lives into Gold.” Aperture, 26 October. 2020. Web. <https://aperture.org/editorial/introducing-nydia-blas/>.
Skelton, Flossie. ““I will forever spin gold with girls”: Nydia Blas’s inimitable world of female magic. British Journal of Photography, 31 March. 2020. Web. https://www.1854.photography/2020/03/nydia-blas-girls-who-spun-gold/
2019
Butet-Roch, Laurence. “Ones to Watch 2019: Nydia Blas.” 1854 Photography, 12 Aug. 2021. Web. https://www.1854.photography/2019/05/ones-to-watch-nydia-blas/
Anderson, C. William. “Photographer Nydia Blas and Her “Black Feminine Lens.” Hyperallergic, 26 April. 2019. Web. https://hyperallergic.com/494577/photographer-nydia-blas-and-her-black-feminine-lens/
Houston, J. “In Conversation: Nydia Blas.” Ain’t-Bad, 14 May. 2019. Web.
https://aint-bad.com/article/2019/05/14/in-conversation-nydia-blas/
Morales Rosado, Maridelis. “27 Photographers’ Portraits of Their Moms, From Loving to Unapologetic.” W Magazine, 11 May.2019.
https://www.wmagazine.com/gallery/photographers-portraits-of-their-own-mothers
Sanchez, Gabriel H. “13 Emotional Pictures of Young Black Women.” BuzzFeed News, 25 February. 2019. Web.
2017
MFON: Women Photographers of the African Diaspora. Eye & I Incorporated. 2017.
2016
Murff, Zora J. “Q&A: Nydia Blas.” Strange Fire Collective, 22 December. 2016.
https://www.strangefirecollective.com/qa-nydia-blas
“Why Photographer Nydia Blas Only Makes Images of Women of Color.” The Huffington Post, 14 December. 2016. Web. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/nydia-blas-photography_n_58504975e4b0e05aded6516d
“Nydia Blas Celebrates the Femininity and “Right to Pleasure” of Black Girls.” FotoFirst. 2016. Web.
https://fotoroom.co/girls-who-spun-gold-nydia-blas/