EXHIBITION: All the Orchids are Fine
Nadiya Nacorda, Untitled #2. Archival Pigment Print, 24 x 36 inches.
OPENING RECEPTION
Friday, September 2nd, from 5-8 pm
Candela Gallery is excited to open the new season with All the Orchids are Fine by Nadiya I. Nacorda. Drawing from lived experience and the collective memories and stories passed on through the generations of her Xhosa and Philippine family, Nacorda's photographs and experimental film work broaden the notion of historical inheritance(s) while exploring themes of girlhood, womanhood, and mothering.
Through a wide range of contemporary and vernacular family portraits and snapshots, Nacorda builds a narrative that blurs the past and the present, allowing the individual identities of the women in her photographs to remain fluid. Creating a space for past and present memories to transcend, echo, and reverberate. Nacorda writes:
As a new mother myself, who gave birth to twins in a pandemic, I find myself in a place of undoing as I attempt to adjust to this new role. In doing so, I revisit my past and the past of my elders with new eyes, noticing patterns repeated along the way. Reflecting upon my own ideas of womanhood and how and by whom they were formed, I focus entirely on the women and girls in my family. Inspiration is found within the bond of our relationships and the way in which things are not only passed down through multiple generations of women but also back up and sideways as well.
Nadiya Nacorda, Like Daughter… Archival Pigment Print, 24 x 24 inches
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Nadiya Nacorda is an artist, mother, and Taurus working with photography, video, sound, and performance. Nadiya received her BFA in Photography & Film from VCU Arts and her MFA in Art Photography from Syracuse University and is currently based in Detroit. 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.
Nadiya Nacorda, Thandi’s Hand and the Blanket. Archival Pigment Print, 16 x 20 inches.
RELATED LINKS
Southwest Contemporary Review: The African Diaspora Experience
for Women at Phoenix Art Museum
2021 Silver Eye List Recipient - Radical Survey Vol. 2
MONOLITH EDITIONS A Special Kind of Trouble Publication
*A limited number of copies are available at Candela Gallery