Nia Imani Winslow, originally from Washington, DC, is a self-taught mixed media collage artist based in Brooklyn, New York. Nia draws inspiration from artists including Romare Bearden, Kerry James Marshall, Faith Ringgold, and Jacob Lawrence to illustrate the colorful essences of Black figures in each of her compositions. Using paper as her preferred material, Nia combines the complexities of different textures, cuttings and clippings to illuminate figures, moods and stories. Through her artistry, Nia combines her passion for style and her chosen medium to inspire self-love and inventiveness in individuals, with a principal focus on the African and Black diaspora.

I use my work to emulate real-life experiences as it pertains to Black life. Mundane or complex, each piece is created to capture the essence of life through the lens of someone who experiences it. As no reality is the same, each work is created using several different pieces of paper to create a completed composition. Each piece of material is used to represent a distinct emotion, background, and way of life. Each collection of clippings is used to produce a whole creation; therefore, I consider each work a piece of a whole. The “whole” represents my entire body of work – a conglomeration of designs used to depict separate, but sometimes similar Black existences. 

Throughout my work, bright colors are utilized to illustrate vibrancy in the Black figures I choose to portray. My goal is for Black people of all shades, ethnicities and backgrounds to be able to see themselves, families, friends and peers in my work.

Nia’s work has been featured in Vogue, Artsy, the Harvard Business Review and Art Seen: The Curator’s Salon Magazine.

Read Nia’s CV here. For opportunities for collaboration, email closetartistry@gmail.com.

Early Inspirations