b. 1991 Detroit, MI

Nadiya Nacorda is an artist, mother, and Taurus working with photography, video, sound, and performance. Her work explores the nuances and entanglements of inheritance(s) while considering themes of magic, affection, identity, and mothering; along with Blasian feminine interiority and subjectivity.

In her practice, she draws from her own lived experiences growing up in the United States. She also looks to the collective ancestral memories and stories passed on through, and between, the generations of her Xhosa and Philippine family while exploring broader histories of colonization and displacement.

Nadiya received her BFA in Photography & Film from VCU Arts and her MFA in Art Photography from Syracuse University. Her first book: A special kind of double was published in 2020 by Monolith Editions as a part of the LOST III books set, and can be found in the collections of The National Gallery of Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Yale University Library, The Guggenheim Museum, Ingalls Library at Cleveland Museum of Art and more.

Her work has been exhibited at Filter Photo in Chicago, Silver Eye Center for Photography in Pittsburgh, Blue Sky Gallery in Portland, RISD's Red Eye Gallery in Providence, Center for Book Arts in New York City, Photo Vogue Festival in Milan, among others. Upcoming exhibitions include The Phoenix Art Museum and her first solo show at Candela Books + Gallery in Richmond, VA. Nadiya and her work been featured in The Washington Post, TIME, NPR, The Guardian, AINT-BAD, Oxford American Magazine, Huck Mag, Blind Magazine, Ignant, PDN-photo district news, InStyle, Essence magazine, Upworthy, Shot Kit, ATTN and more. She is also the 2nd place winner of the 2020 Lenscratch Student Prize, as well as a finalist of the 2019 Magenta Foundation's Flash Forward competition, the 2020 Lit List, and the 2021 Silver list. Nadiya has also presented her work through artist talks at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Stanford University, Brandeis University, and the University of Washington.