Ty/A Nelson (b. 1994, New York) is a photographer and visual artist currently based in Brooklyn, New York. Examining the intersectionality and physicality of safe space, lineage, and Black trans femmehood, Nelson utilizes self-portraiture and alternative processes to explore familial history and sentimental spaces. Through these environments, they unpack how kinship, intimacy, and sex set a precedent for revealing a facet of the self yearning to be seen both by the individual and by an ever-evolving environment. Informed by artists such as RaMell Ross, Carrie Mae Weems, and Paul Mpagi Sepuya, Nelson’s photographic practice flirts with the familiar quietude of a Black home and the tumult of coming into oneself in a Black trans body.
Nelson’s visual practice also extends beyond the lens, employing various mediums and techniques for hand-printing and painting. Experimenting with spices and alternative processes, their rich visual mark complements the more muted tones of her photography through the punchy use of primary and tertiary colors in acrylics and oil pastels. Echoing the abstraction of Benny Andrews and the Washington Color School, Nelson’s tactile work experiments with Abstract Expressionism to push the boundaries of form and color.
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