Na'ye Perez, Higher, Thy Will / Peace of Mind, 2022; Limited Edition Print
Na'ye Perez is a Brooklyn-based interdisciplinary artist from Columbus, OH. By navigating through personal experience and memory, the importance of intimacy within Perez’s community and self establishes his narrative modes of accessibility. The artist uses found objects, such as playing cards, cigarette packages, and other cultural ephemera collaged with environmental materials such as sand from local beaches and other personal locations. The artist received his MFA from the Pratt Institute. Recent exhibitions include What You Know Bout Love… at BRIC House Hallway (Brooklyn, NY); Migrating Sun Part 1 at Welancora (Brooklyn, NY); and Outside at RegularNormal (New York, NY) among others. The artist’s work has been featured in a number of publications including Cultured Magazine, Time Out, and Town & Country.
Higher, Thy Will / Peace of Mind is a work that speaks to the intersection of community and identity. The subject, a friend of the artist’s from California, is at the crest of her high-jump, her locs fall through the air as she is silhouetted against a pale blue background with light blue tropical leaves. Her teal uniform pops with a hot pink and blue hibiscus pattern and a yellow stripe, complemented by the black, green and yellow in her socks. At the peak of this triumph, Perez melts away the competitive environment and centers Black Presence, both physically and metaphorically with resilience and grace that success in track and field demands. Whether through the colors in the socks—the same shades as the Pan-African Flag designed by political activist and writer, Marcus Garvey in 1920, as well as the Jamaican and Guaynese flag’s of the subject’s heritage—or his characteristic melange of found cultural ephemera, this nod captures the artist’s expanding references and rich communication of place. The artist has hand-embellished a portion of the edition with additional lino block prints collaged with magazine cutouts and painted elements, making each piece unique.
“I’m happy to take part in this series for ART FOR CHANGE, because I am grateful to help increase accessibility to resources, especially in communities that have supported me,” commented Perez on the collaboration. “As someone who was once affected by food insecurity, I can attest to the fact that City Harvest’s work feeding families and combating issues of food waste have the capacity to create genuine shifts in local communities. I am deeply aligned with their mission and proud to support them through this collaboration.”
ART FOR CHANGE will donate a portion of proceeds from each print sold to City Harvest in support of the organization’s work providing fresh and nutritious food to New Yorkers experiencing food insecurity throughout the five boroughs. As in all series, artists will receive 50% of the net proceeds of print sales.
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*Unframed prints ship within 1-3 weeks.
*Framed prints ship within 3-6 weeks.