Masta My Language

Alabama Contemporary Art Center - Mobile, AL
November 12, 2021 - April 16, 2022
Currently on view

A solo exhibition by Nyugen E. Smith, curated by Dash

Masta My Language is an ongoing, multi-part project that includes original poetry, mixed-media works on paper, sculpture/installation, performance art, and experimental musical scores. The project began with an original poem, “A Letter Home Hoping to Reach You Soon.” The poem reflects the artist’s desire to further create connections, a deeper understanding and knowledge of his Haitian ancestry.

About Nyugen

Nyugen E. Smith (U.S., Haiti, Trinidad & Tobago) is a first-generation Caribbean-American, interdisciplinary artist based in Jersey City, NJ. Nyugen deepens his knowledge of past and present-day conditions of Black African descendants in the diaspora via performance, sculpture, mixed-media drawing, painting, video, photo and writing. The primary concerns of his practice are trauma, spiritual practices, language, violence, memory, architecture, landscape and climate change.

Learn more about Nyugen & his practice here.

Body Language

April 8, 2022

Concurrent with Masta My Language, Nyugen collaborated with Mobile-based artist, Ottie James, to present a new performance work titled Body Language.

The new work synthesized matter embedded in Smith's Masta My Language series such as poetry, improvisation, language, heritage, sound, and the body. It also draws from Adam Pendleton's disruptive 'Black Dada' theory and the European Dadaist movement of the early 20th century.