Nontsikelelo Mutiti Explained

Nontsikelelo Mutiti
Birth Place:Harare, Zimbabwe
Nationality:Zimbabwean
Alma Mater:Zimbabwe Institute of Vigital Arts Yale School of Art
Website:http://nontsikelelomutiti.com/

Nontsikelelo Mutiti (born 31 August 1982) is a graphic designer, artist and educator.[1] Her work focuses on web design, video, print, and book art. She often includes hair braiding in her design work, and is "interested in the nuanced differences between black cultures".[2] Her work includes printed materials for Black Lives Matter.[3] [4] Since 2022, Mutiti has served as the Director of Graduate Studies in Graphic Design at the Yale School of Art.[5]

Early life and education

Mutiti was born in 1982 in Harare, Zimbabwe.[6] She graduated from the Zimbabwe Institute of Vigital Arts with a diploma in multimedia art in 2007.[7] Mutiti earned an MFA from the Yale School of Art in 2012.[8]

Collaborations and publishing

Mutiti is a co-founder of the Zimbabwe Cultural Centre in Detroit, which encourages collaboration between artists in Detroit and Zimbabwe.[9]

With Tinashe Mushakavanhu, Mutiti co-founded Black Chalk & Co, a creative agency and publishing imprint.[10] [11] [12] Mushakavanhu and Mutiti also lead Reading Zimbabwe, a digital archive of Zimbabwean literature. Mutiti has served as artistic director and cofounder since Reading Zimbabwe was established in late 2016.[13]

Teaching

In June 2022, Mutiti was appointed to Yale University's faculty as the Director of Graduate Studies in Graphic Design. Mutiti became the third director of Yale's graduate graphic design program, following Professor Sheila Levrant de Bretteville’s historic thirty-two year tenure.[14] Mutiti previously served an assistant professor at Virginia Commonwealth University in the Graphic Design department, where she taught between 2017 and 2022.[15] Prior to VCU, Mutiti taught at Purchase College. She lives and works in New York City and Richmond, Virginia.

Work

Mutiti is best known for her artistic investigation of the technical crafts and social practices of hair braiding and self-fashioning in the African diaspora. For example, in a 2014 exhibition at Recess Art, Mutiti drew for inspiration from the space of an African hair braiding salon, as it might be found in New York City or Harare. Mutiti recreated aesthetic markers such as "walls painted in acid green or bright orange, magazine cut outs of celebrities, hair product models, flyers and posters from evangelical churches... [and] the ubiquitous small black television set on top of a cabinet playing Nollywood movies."[16] Mutiti's interests extend from the aesthetics of hair salons to the forms of community and exchange that take place in them. In 2015, as part of Performa, she worked together with Chimurenga and Pan African Space Station to create a functional pop-up salon which hosted a series of conversations.[17]

Print

Video

Web

Awards & Residencies

Exhibitions

References

  1. Web site: Samarskaya . Ksenya . June 17, 2019 . Nontsikelelo Mutiti on Interrogating the Euro-centric Design Canon . June 13, 2022 . AIGA Eye on Design.
  2. Web site: Morley . Madeleine . Nontsikelelo Mutiti's Book Designs Explore Black African Identity, the Aesthetics of Hair Braiding, and Brooklyn Police Brutality . Eye on Design . 5 March 2019 . 20 July 2017.
  3. Web site: Best . Tamara . At New Museum, a Pop-Up Support System for Black Lives Matter . The New York Times . 5 March 2019 . 2 September 2016.
  4. Web site: Steinhauer . Jillian . Reflections from Black Women Artists for Black Lives Matter . Hyperallergic Media . 5 March 2019 . 16 September 2016.
  5. Web site: Nontsikelelo Mutiti appointed Director of Graduate Studies in Graphic Design . 2022-06-14 . us14.campaign-archive.com.
  6. Web site: Biography . Institute for Contemporary Art at Virginia Commonwealth University . 5 March 2019.
  7. Web site: Nontsikelelo Mutiti . 2022-06-14 . The Laundromat Project . en-US.
  8. Web site: Bulletin of Yale University: School of Art 2013-2014 . Bulletin of Yale University . 5 March 2019 . 112.
  9. Web site: Zimbabwe Cultural Centre in Detroit . Knight Foundation . 5 March 2019.
  10. Web site: Embuscado . Rain . Black Chalk & Co. Is Building An Archive Of Zimbabwe's Stories . New Inc . 5 March 2019 . 30 May 2018.
  11. Web site: Black Chalk & Co. . Black Chalk & Co. . 5 March 2019.
  12. Web site: Black Chalk & Co. Is Building An Archive Of Zimbabwe's Stories . 2022-06-14 . NEW INC . en-US.
  13. Web site: Mushakavanhu . Tinashe . Searching for Zimbabwe's scattered (hi)stories . Mail & Guardian . 5 March 2019 . 31 August 2018.
  14. Web site: NONTSIKELELO MUTITI APPOINTED DIRECTOR OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN GRAPHIC DESIGN . Yale School of Art . 9 February 2023.
  15. Web site: Nontsikelelo Mutiti . Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts . 5 March 2019.
  16. Web site: Nontsikelelo Mutiti: Ruka (To braid/ to knit/ to weave). 2014. Recess Art.
  17. Web site: Storytelling in the salon — Nontsikelelo Mutiti. Mushakavanhu. Tinashe. 2015-12-01. Medium. 2019-03-16.
  18. Web site: BKP2021 . 2021-03-07 . www.daad.de . en.
  19. Web site: Soros Arts Fellowship . 2021-03-07 . www.opensocietyfoundations.org . en.
  20. Web site: Nontsikelelo Mutiti . Laundromat Project . 5 March 2019.
  21. Web site: Bulletin of Yale University: School of Art 2013-2014 . Bulletin of Yale University . 110 . 5 March 2019.
  22. Web site: 3 June 2014 . Nontsikelelo Mutiti: Ruka (To braid/ to knit/ to weave) . 19 December 2021 . Recess.

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