Nicole Awai

Nicole Awai is a multi-media artist who creates visual narratives that combine elements of art history, human interaction, and popular culture. Originally from Trinidad, Awai earned her MFA from the University of South Florida and attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture artist residency. She was artist-in-residence at the Studio Museum in Harlem, Smack Mellon, and the Joan Mitchell Center in New Orleans.

Awai’s work has shown at PS1/MOMA, the Brooklyn Museum, the California African American Museum, Chinese American Museum, the Museum of Latin American Art, and The High Line. She has been awarded the Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters and Sculptors grant and Art Matters grant. Awai was a critic at the Yale School of Art and is currently teaching at the University of Texas at Austin.

During her Arts/Industry residency, Awai created slip-cast sculptures based on a line of doppelgangers she discovered in a $.99-cent store in Jersey City.