Zsudayka Nzinga

“From the ways we engaged on plantations and during Jim Crow, to the ways we use interiors and say good-bye, ‘home’ has an important lexicon in Black culture.” Zsudayka Nzinga 

Home Coming/Home Going presents recent works by Zsudayka Nzinga that examine the diverse ways Black Americans find, define, and establish “home.” Nzinga’s work is grounded in social, cultural, and anthropological research into the history of her family, community, and diaspora. Combining mixed media on unstretched canvas—including acrylic, marbling, ink, decorative paper, and fabric—Nzinga explores figurative narratives of Black existence. Her intricately designed collages blend portraiture, abstraction, American fashion, African textiles, and symbols specific to Black American culture to express joy, hope, and the love of everyday life.

This exhibition is presented in conjunction with Multiplicity: Blackness in Contemporary American Collage. Nzinga’s work focuses on Black American identity, showcasing the connections among cultural experiences of displacement and ideas of the self.

About the artist

Zsudayka (pronounced zoo-day-kuh) Nzinga (b. 1984) is a multidisciplinary artist, curator, and educator from Aurora, Colorado, living in Washington, DC, in the Deanwood neighborhood. Her work—which has included painting, stained glass, murals, spoken word, fashion, and more—is largely focused on mixed-media collage portraiture of American life that address themes of motherhood, culture, identity. Nzinga is currently pursuing her masters in painting from the Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore. She has shown her work around the world, including at the American Embassy in Côte d’Ivoire; Stella Jones Gallery, New Orleans; and SOMA Arts, San Francisco. Nzinga, along with her husband, artist James Terrell, run Terrell Arts DC, which teaches and shares art through programs, curriculum development, exhibitions, and more with the aim of uplifting the African American community.

IMAGE: Zsudayka Nzinga, Run Away But Come Back Petit Marronage Act 1, 2023, Acrylic, ink, decorative paper, and fabric on canvas, 55 x 72 in., Courtesy of the artist