Tiona Nekkia McClodden

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Tiona Nekkia McClodden
Born (1981-07-02) July 2, 1981 (age 40)
Blytheville, Arkansas, U.S.
EducationClark Atlanta University, Spelman College
AwardsLouis Comfort Tiffany Award, Pew Fellowship in the Arts , Magnum Foundation Fund, Keith Haring Fellowship in Art and Activism
Websitewww.tionam.com

Tiona Nekkia McClodden (July 2, 1981, Blytheville, Arkansas) is an interdisciplinary research-based conceptual artist, filmmaker and curator based in Philadelphia, PA.[1][2][3]

Early life and education[]

McClodden was born in Blytheville, Arkansas, in 1981. She went to Clark Atlanta University, majoring in film and psychology then continued her education in film at Spelman College.[4][5]

Career and works[]

McClodden's work explores concepts of gender, sexuality and race, centering a black, queer lineage.[1][3] She produces her work through her film and media company Harriet's Gun, which she has said is a reference to Harriet Tubman.[5][4]

She has created bodies of work in dedication to underrepresented African-American writers and musicians such as Langston Hughes and Florence B. Price or Essex Hemphill, and Julius Eastman, who made work in the 1980s during the AIDS crisis in the US.[1][6]

Her work was shown at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia as part of the Speech/Acts exhibit in 2017.[2]

McClodden has been the recipient of several notable awards. She was the fifth recipient of the Keith Haring Fellowship in Art and Activism at the Center for Curatorial Studies and the Human Rights Project at Bard College.[1] In 2018, she was a Magnum Foundation Fund grantee.[7] In 2017 McCloddon won the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Award.[8] She was a 2016 Pew Fellow and received a grant from Pew in 2018.[6]

McClodden showed in the 2019 Whitney Biennial, curated by Rujeko Hockley and Jane Panetta.[9] McClodden participated alongside 75 other artists, including fellow Philadelphia-based Carolyn Lazard.[10] McClodden's exhibit was a three-hour-long, six-screen film documenting a religious pilgrimage she took to Nigeria, running on a loop.[11] In March 2020, it was announced that McClodden would be included in Prospect.5 in New Orleans, LA, curated by Naima J. Keith and Diana Nawi.[12]

McClodden is the founder of Conceptual Fade,[13] a combination gallery and library space in Philadelphia, PA. McClodden cites the inspiration for the space as the Pyramid Club as well as micro jazz bars in Japan. Conceptual Fade's library, is also McClodden's personal library, with a focus on Black artists and available to the public for research. [14]

The Brad Johnson Tapes[]

Inspired by a poem by Johnson published in Other Countries: Black Gay Voices, McClodden created a 10-scene performance piece on VHS tape.[2]

A Recollection. + Predicated[]

A Recollection. + Predicated within Julius Eastman: That Which is Fundamental was curated by McClodden at The Kitchen in New York City. It centered three years of research around Eastman (in collaboration with Julius Eastman Estate), an internationally lauded minimalist composer who died homeless just shy of fifty years old.[3][15] This exhibition included an installation of artwork by Carolyn Lazard, Sondra Perry, Chloe Bass, and Texas Isaiah and musical performances of Eastman's work.[16][17][18]

CLUB[]

McClodden's piece, CLUB, took place in 2018 at the Performance Space New York, in a space where Keith Haring first exhibited. It explored the liminality of nightclubs, where visitors might leave their everyday persona outside and interact with different social boundaries.[1]

Writing[]

References[]

  1. ^ a b c d e "Bard Names Tiona Nekkia McClodden the Keith Haring Fellow in Art and Activism". www.artforum.com. Retrieved 2018-07-01.
  2. ^ a b c "Tiona Nekkia McClodden". www.artforum.com. Retrieved 2018-07-01.
  3. ^ a b c Staff, Curve. "Performance Space New York Present Tiona Nekkia McClodden's Club". Retrieved 2018-07-30.
  4. ^ a b "INTERVIEW: Queer multimedia artist Tiona McClodden | AFROPUNK". AFROPUNK. 2014-05-20. Retrieved 2018-07-30.
  5. ^ a b Bern, Sommerakademie im Zentrum Paul Klee. "Tiona McClodden - Sommerakademie at Zentrum Paul Klee". www.sommerakademie.zpk.org. Retrieved 2018-07-30.
  6. ^ a b "Meet Pew's 2018 arts and culture grantees with a social impact slant - Generocity Philly". Generocity Philly. 2018-06-21. Retrieved 2018-07-01.
  7. ^ "Chronicling the Lives of Women Along the Colombian-Venezuelan Border". Retrieved 2018-07-30.
  8. ^ Russeth, Andrew (2018-02-15). "Here Are the 2017 Tiffany Foundation Grant Recipients". ARTnews. Retrieved 2018-07-30.
  9. ^ "Whitney Biennial 2019". whitney.org.
  10. ^ Salisbury, Stephan. "Two Philly artists selected for Whitney Biennial". www.philly.com.
  11. ^ https://www.phillymag.com/news/2019/07/06/tiona-nekkia-mcclodden/
  12. ^ "Prospect New Orleans Announces Artist List for Prospect.5". www.artforum.com. Retrieved 2020-11-12.
  13. ^ "CAAM | #5WomenArtists 2021: Tiona Nekkia McClodden". caamuseum.org. Retrieved 2021-05-19.
  14. ^ Aton, Francesca (2021-05-17). "Five New Black-Run Art Spaces to Watch". ARTnews.com. Retrieved 2021-05-19.
  15. ^ "Resurrecting The Political, Avant-Garde Music Of Julius Eastman". www.wbur.org. Retrieved 2018-07-30.
  16. ^ "A Long-Lost Composer Is Raised From the Dead". The New York Times. Retrieved 2018-07-30.
  17. ^ "After Years of Research, Minimalist Composer Julius Eastman Gets the Tribute He Deserves". Hyperallergic. 2017-05-17. Retrieved 2018-07-30.
  18. ^ "A Long-Lost Score, Rebuilt With the Help of a Photo". The New York Times. Retrieved 2018-07-30.

External links[]

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