MHS 2026 Juror Announcement!
Nneka Kai (she/her) is an interdisciplinary artist, writer, curator, and educator based in upstate New York. Her research-driven studio practice explores the intersections of fiber histories and Black visual aesthetics with particular attention to materiality as a site of cultural memory and resistance.
Kai received her MFA in Fiber and Material Studies from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and her BFA from Georgia State University. She currently teaches sculpture at Pratt Munson and has guest curated an exhibition with the Art Institute of Chicago’s Textiles Department. She is the recipient of the 2023 Artadia Award (Atlanta). Her work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions in Atlanta, Chicago, Berkeley, and New York.
About her body of work:
“My studio practice begins with the question: What is the free Black feminine form? I explore this inquiry through hair—as material, language, and conceptual framework—using interdisciplinary methods that include fiber, sculpture, and performance. Drawing from textile techniques such as braiding, coiling, and stitching, I reimagine these processes in dialogue with found objects creating sites of friction where vulnerability and resistance coexist. Through abstraction, my work resists and interrogates how the past, present, and future remain precariously intertwined, offering space to consider how materiality might be continually negotiated.”
Follow Nneka on Instagram!
Our enormous thanks to Nneka for lending her time and expertise while jurying this year’s selection artwork.
Artwork Image:
The Signal is the Sign, 2025
66” X 20” X 13”. Synthetic hair, audio hardware, LED light, gel, muslin, acrylic paint