i must paint with my hands to climb through the dark memories, to find new identities, to reconnect with the little girl i was––to go from numbness to rebirth. My excavated surfaces, inspired by Mark Bradford and Gerhard Richter, are visceral responses from my own personal history as well as responses to the dark histories of so many silenced Black women. inspired by mark rothko’s palette and emotional rawness, i try to translate memory into layered and abstract stories. as i scrape away color i hope to reveal what is underneath and show a path to emerging identities.

i am a graduate of Pratt Institute’s MFA painting program. i was born and bred in Baltimore, MD. i also consider myself a NYer because I lived in Brooklyn until 2018 but i now live in Bloomfield, NJ with my wife, our two rigebacks, and our cat, lela.

pricing + general inquiries
nikki@nikkiterry.com