Zsudayka Nzinga
Park Day
Acrylic, 56 x 36 in., 2016
Zsudayka Nzinga
BIO
Zsudayka Nzinga, 32, is an arts activist born and raised in Aurora, CO. She became an activist and poet in high school and began performing around town. She became well known in the city of Denver during the NBA all star game when she performed a political piece, The Nike Poem, live on ESPN and was subsequently blacked out from live television. Nzinga began hosting poetry venues in Denver, including the world renowned Cafe Nuba which featured poets and musicians from all over the world, including noted poets such as Sonia Sanchez, Talaam Acey and Last Poets.
She used her raw energy to promote her HIV prevention programs and encourage youth to get tested. During her hosting Nzinga became an HIV advocate and began training with the CDC with programs geared toward testing youth between 13 and 24 who were in gangs or involved in prostitution. Nzinga had some of the highest numbers with youth following up for services and testing. Nzinga created a black arts festival in Aurora, CO ( a Denver suburb with a large black and latino population) in 2003. The festival was successful and ran 5 years attracting vendors from across the country. The Aurora Black Arts Festival was so successful is strengthened the other black arts festivals in Denver, The Denver Black Arts Festival and Juneteenth. It attracted massive media support and over 5,000 people each year. Nzinga stopped the festival in 2009 to give birth to her daughter.
Zsudayka left the HIV work to pursue opportunities in cultural curriculum development and after school programs and worked with organizations such as Cleo Parker Robinson Dance, took over running the Colorado Hip Hop Coalition in its final years, and eventually went on to work with Denver Public Art University where she started her own boutique for independent designers of clothing and jewelry. Nzinga most recently relocated to Atlanta and DC where she has displayed art at many fine galleries, cafes and community based organizations as well as painted multiple murals. She started her program From the Corner to the Gallery in 2014, fundraising to take 7 kids under her wing and help them learn to transition their hustle into a legal arts based business.
Originally an oil painter, Nzinga’s new work is acrylic and features portraits of mainly women in the style of stained glass and fabric patterns. She is working to give the illusion of things coming together and moving apart, all the pieces of a person or experience, like recalling a memory in pieces and layers. Light and brightness are a big key to her work. Nzinga wants each painting to shine and to have realism depth elements within the faces. The patterns mimic line work from indigenous body make up and ankara fabrics. She’s done Prince, Nina Simone, Kendrick Lamar, Yemenya and many more figures in black political and spiritual circles. Zsudayka Nzinga currently lives in Washington, DC. She is married to artist, James Terrell and has two children.
Statement
"This painting features a little girl playing with an umbrella in the park. She is standing on a dirt bed of African textile symbols and line work above a bed of flowers, which are a signature in a lot of the artist's work. Each element of the painting is broken down into its most basic shape and drawn out piece by piece as if it were stained glass or a quilt."
Zsudayka Nzinga, 32, is an arts activist born and raised in Aurora, CO. She became an activist and poet in high school and began performing around town. She became well known in the city of Denver during the NBA all star game when she performed a political piece, The Nike Poem, live on ESPN and was subsequently blacked out from live television. Nzinga began hosting poetry venues in Denver, including the world renowned Cafe Nuba which featured poets and musicians from all over the world, including noted poets such as Sonia Sanchez, Talaam Acey and Last Poets.
She used her raw energy to promote her HIV prevention programs and encourage youth to get tested. During her hosting Nzinga became an HIV advocate and began training with the CDC with programs geared toward testing youth between 13 and 24 who were in gangs or involved in prostitution. Nzinga had some of the highest numbers with youth following up for services and testing. Nzinga created a black arts festival in Aurora, CO ( a Denver suburb with a large black and latino population) in 2003. The festival was successful and ran 5 years attracting vendors from across the country. The Aurora Black Arts Festival was so successful is strengthened the other black arts festivals in Denver, The Denver Black Arts Festival and Juneteenth. It attracted massive media support and over 5,000 people each year. Nzinga stopped the festival in 2009 to give birth to her daughter.
Zsudayka left the HIV work to pursue opportunities in cultural curriculum development and after school programs and worked with organizations such as Cleo Parker Robinson Dance, took over running the Colorado Hip Hop Coalition in its final years, and eventually went on to work with Denver Public Art University where she started her own boutique for independent designers of clothing and jewelry. Nzinga most recently relocated to Atlanta and DC where she has displayed art at many fine galleries, cafes and community based organizations as well as painted multiple murals. She started her program From the Corner to the Gallery in 2014, fundraising to take 7 kids under her wing and help them learn to transition their hustle into a legal arts based business.
Originally an oil painter, Nzinga’s new work is acrylic and features portraits of mainly women in the style of stained glass and fabric patterns. She is working to give the illusion of things coming together and moving apart, all the pieces of a person or experience, like recalling a memory in pieces and layers. Light and brightness are a big key to her work. Nzinga wants each painting to shine and to have realism depth elements within the faces. The patterns mimic line work from indigenous body make up and ankara fabrics. She’s done Prince, Nina Simone, Kendrick Lamar, Yemenya and many more figures in black political and spiritual circles. Zsudayka Nzinga currently lives in Washington, DC. She is married to artist, James Terrell and has two children.
Statement
"This painting features a little girl playing with an umbrella in the park. She is standing on a dirt bed of African textile symbols and line work above a bed of flowers, which are a signature in a lot of the artist's work. Each element of the painting is broken down into its most basic shape and drawn out piece by piece as if it were stained glass or a quilt."
- Zsudayka Nzinga
Washington, District of Columbia
Washington, District of Columbia
