Nya Lewis’ hybrid practice is a culmination of centuries of African resistance, love, questions, actions, and study rooted in the theorization of the conditions of Black cultural production. The curator sees her practice as a continuation of a long lineage of work undertaken by Black artists, curators, writers, activists and thinkers who blaze(d) a trail of critical discourse surrounding the Black experience. Lewis’s creative practice reflects upon the diversity of Black diasporic experiences and its many forms of expression – as such, she works across the disciplines of art making, curating, and writing. Her work is multivalent in form and expression but is always driven by the reimagining and reclaiming of community.
Freelance critic and lecturer with The Polygon Gallery, Dunlop Gallery, Capture Photography Festival, Femme Art Review, Canadian Art, UBC Equity and Inclusion, SFU Contemporary, Vancouver Public Library, Vancouver Art Book Fair, and Printed Matter. She currently serves as the director/curator of Artspeak, Year-round Programmer at the Vancouver Queer Film Festival, Research Fellow at the Vancouver Art Gallery, and Research Assistant at the Center for the Study of Black Canadian Diaspora.
