VALS Visiting Artist Lecture Series with Nyugen E. Smith

Hosted by our Fine Arts MFA program, the Visiting Artist Lecture Series (VALS) is one of several free and open-to-the-public events we offer each year. Follow us on Instagram @prattfineart to see what’s coming up, and we look forward to welcoming you soon!

Nyugen E. Smith is an artist living and working in Jersey City, NJ. His practice revolves around the construction of narrative through the prism of Black cultural identity. The manifold ramifications of European colonialism across the African Diaspora serve as the foundation upon which his practice is constructed. Smith adopts a rhizomatic methodology, characterized by its non-linear and interconnected approach, as a means of conceptualizing and realizing creative expression. Guided by the metaphorical roots of this colonial legacy, Nyugen is interested in the dynamic interplay between various thematic nodes, including architecture, language, performance, ritual, trauma, DNA memory, climate change, and migration. These thematic nodes are woven into the fabric of his practice. The inherent poetry of their relational dynamics guides the creation of the work. Central to his practice is an emphasis on the utilization of pre-existing materials, the body, and play, within the art-making process.

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, Frist Art Museum, Blanton Museum, Newark Museum, and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 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.

Previous VALS artists include Diana Al-Hadid, Korakrit Arunanondchai, Judith Bernstein, Michael Berryhill, Wafaa Bilal, The Black School, Pradeep Dalal, Abigail D. Deville, Nicole Eisenman, Rochelle Feinstein, Keltie Ferris, LaToya Ruby Frazier, Schezerade Garcia, Rico Gatson, Jeffrey Gibson, Mark Thomas Gibson, Nancy Grossman, Trenton Doyle Hancock, Edgar Heap of Birds, James Hyde, Laura Kalman, Nina Katchadourian, Elektra KB, Baseera Khan, Savannah Knoop, Leigh Ledare, Jennie Jieun Lee, Ann Lewis, Tau Lewis, Kalup Linzey, Ibrahim Mahama, Park McArthur, Alicia Mersy, Wardell Milan, Ayanah Moor, Lavar Munroe, Narcissister, Rashaad Newsome, Catherine Opie, Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya, Alexis Rockman, Aura Satz, Shazia Sikander, Lorna Simpson, Wendy Red Star, Dan Walsh, Hu Xiangqian, and Frank Wang Yefen.

We are grateful to the Robert Lehman Foundation for supporting this series.

This in person event will be held at Dock 72 in the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

You will need to save your email to access the building and the event.

Please register each person attending the event with their individual email, so that they receive their own unique QR pass.

You will receive a digital QR pass via email that will appear in your inbox as: DOCK 72 Visitor Check-in Tuesday Feb. 11, 2025 from [email protected]. Please check your SPAM folder if you cannot locate it. NO PASS = NO ACCESS. This pass will be good for the date of the event only.

FINDING DOCK 72-

Dock 72 is here: 1 Dock 72 Wy, Brooklyn, NY 11205

You will first use your pass to enter the Brooklyn Navy Yard at whichever gate is convenient. You can come by taxi (showing your pass to the guard to enter) but if you drive, you will need to park OUTSIDE the Navy Yard and walk in. There is NO parking at Dock 72.

NOTE: While there is no on-site parking; taxi/ride share drop-off is permitted. Additionally, the building is situated next to the NYC Ferry, Citibike, and there are shuttles available on-site to and from MTA subways stops. For more info, please visit

- When you arrive at Dock 72, enter the Lobby and then use your pass at ELEVATOR BANK C, which is the last elevator bank right at the end of the lobby (past the lobby cafe, near the exit door at the very end)- At the elevator bank, select Floor 3 on the digital pad which will then indicate which elevator to take.

IMPORTANT ACCESS INFORMATION
Access to the Brooklyn Navy Yard and Dock 72 is restricted ONLY to those with an ID card or a visitor pass. All who RSVP here will receive an email with information on how to get their Visitor QR Code Pass, which will be issued the morning of the event.

Host or Publisher Pratt Institute