Nyugen E. Smith

Nyugen E. Smith is a first-generation Caribbean-American artist working primarily in mixed media drawing and painting, found-object assemblage, and performance; deepening his knowledge of the historical and present-day conditions of Black African descendants in the diaspora. Trauma, spiritual practices, language, memory, architecture, and climate change are the primary concerns in his research-based 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.