Nica Aquino (b. January 1, 1990) is a multidisciplinary artist & analogue photographer from Los Angeles, CA. She holds a BFA in Photography from the Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland, OR & a MA with Merit in Contemporary Visual Culture from the School of Art at Manchester Metropolitan University in the United Kingdom. Her work has been exhibited internationally in Manchester, United Kingdom; Belgrade, Serbia; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Metro Manila, Philippines; and nationally in Portland, OR; Los Angeles, CA; San Antonio, TX.
Her work reveals place, identity & the cross-cultural experience largely through a photographic lens. Via analogue photography, viewers see through the eyes of a first generation Ilokana-American trying to navigate North American culture & drawing inspiration from the people & places around her, exploring diverse immigrant diasporas & communities in the US & beyond. Most recently, her work has expanded to experiment with textiles, installation, video & sound; examining themes of memory & loss, specifically how we [re]visit/[re]create memories & how different tiers of loss ranging from death to post-colonial melancholia are subconsciously embedded in these memories.
Aside from spending her early adolescence moving between states & continents, Nica grew up within immigrant, working class inner-city neighborhoods on the cusps of Koreatown, Pico-Union & Mid-City, Los Angeles. She is now residing in the Northeast LA community, where she works as a full-time curator. In her curatorial practice, Nica aims to provide a platform for artists of color and others navigating feelings of unbelonging. As an individual that has had the opportunity to get educated and access many resources, she knows it is her responsibility as an artist and curator to use her privilege to uplift others also existing within the margins, and lend visibility to the communities and stories experiencing erasure.
Her work reveals place, identity & the cross-cultural experience largely through a photographic lens. Via analogue photography, viewers see through the eyes of a first generation Ilokana-American trying to navigate North American culture & drawing inspiration from the people & places around her, exploring diverse immigrant diasporas & communities in the US & beyond. Most recently, her work has expanded to experiment with textiles, installation, video & sound; examining themes of memory & loss, specifically how we [re]visit/[re]create memories & how different tiers of loss ranging from death to post-colonial melancholia are subconsciously embedded in these memories.
Aside from spending her early adolescence moving between states & continents, Nica grew up within immigrant, working class inner-city neighborhoods on the cusps of Koreatown, Pico-Union & Mid-City, Los Angeles. She is now residing in the Northeast LA community, where she works as a full-time curator. In her curatorial practice, Nica aims to provide a platform for artists of color and others navigating feelings of unbelonging. As an individual that has had the opportunity to get educated and access many resources, she knows it is her responsibility as an artist and curator to use her privilege to uplift others also existing within the margins, and lend visibility to the communities and stories experiencing erasure.
(photo by Animus Juang)
