Nyugen E. Smith is a Caribbean-American interdisciplinary artist based in Jersey City, NJ. Through performance, found object sculpture, mixed media drawing, painting, video, photo and writing, Nyugen deepens his knowledge of historical and present-day conditions of Black African descendants in the diaspora. Trauma, spiritual practices, language, violence, memory, architecture, landscape and climate change are primary concerns in his practice.
Nyugen holds a BA, Fine Art from Seton Hall University and an MFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. His work has been presented at the Museum of Latin American Art, Peréz Art Museum, Museum of Cultural History, Norway, Nordic Black Theater, Norway, Newark Museum, and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, among others. Nyugen is the recipient of the Creative Capital award, Leonore Annenberg Performing and Visual Arts Fund, Franklin Furnace Fund, Dr. Doris Derby Award, New Jersey State Council on the Arts grant, and Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters and Sculptors Grant.
My Time in Wassaic
My time at Wassaic was interesting. I learned quite a few things about myself during that time. I spent the first week and a half finding interesting locations to shoot video and make performance for the camera, editing the photos and videos, teaching myself Adobe Premiere, writing songs, and collaborating with fellow resident and housemate, Amanda Edwards, on the video work. For these projects, I made a costume, incorporated some objects I purchased at a local salvage store and some I found on the Wassaic Project grounds. It was incredibly hot in Wassaic during the first week and this I did not mind. I was dripping with sweat carting around heavy, old doors that were used to keep animals in their pens when the Luther Barn housed livestock, moving around a concrete pedestal, and a tiled podium for the photo and video work. Labor. Sometimes these tasks, which I documented, felt as interesting, if not more interesting than the “stories” developed for the intended shoot. So... ”productive” is how I would describe the beginning of my residency at Wassaic. Then it began to rain heavily and consistently for days, so I couldn’t shoot outdoors. I figured that I would make work in my studio, perhaps work on paintings, collages, and/or drawings, but my studio would take in a lot of water when it rained heavily, so that plan was a bust. This made me a little depressed. Bonding with some of the other residents over drinks and food and visiting their studios was helpful during my “blue period."
The staff was extremely welcoming and made themselves available for trips to the grocery and hardware stores, for studio visits, and casual conversation. They seemed genuinely interested in and excited about the work that residents were doing. I’m grateful for the experience. A Big Up! to Oshun Layne for nominating me for this residency. One Love!
