Dates

Apr 30, 2026 -Jun 13, 2026

Rooted in research, Zsudayka Nzinga is interested in examining issues related to American labor systems and their historical and ongoing impact on the communities and cultures of the diaspora in America. Sourcing traditional American folklore and myth, her work creates fantasy interior, exterior, and figurative spaces from hand-printed and painted materials.

Seated in the historical language of textile labor, Nzinga’s practice begins with water, considering birth and American port cities. She uses hand-dyed muslin and canvas, hand-marbled paper and canvas, batik wax reduction printing, screen printing, relief printing, ink drawings, artist-designed digital printed fabric and paper, and acrylic paint to create futurist historical paintings that examine American history and simultaneously imagine a better future through informed escape.

Her print work investigates the use of iconography as design, employing symbolic images as the storytelling vehicle to interpret how history shapes American identity and culture. Nzinga is interested in drawing parallels between Reconstruction-Era America, the present, and possible futures through fashion design, interior design, architecture, and agriculture. 

Her current work explores themes of developing spiritual practices and personal concepts of self-actualized existence as acts of resistance to the rigor of labor systems. Her drawings, paintings, printwork, collaged tapestries, and works on paper challenge viewers to examine the long-term impact of these systems and to envision new ways to create culture and community in the future.

This show is part of McLean Project for the Arts' 2026 Spring Solos