By Nitashia Johnson | Feb. 11 – March 19, 2022
The South Dallas Cultural Center is pleased to present The Beauty of South Dallas created by artist Nitashia Johnson.
Artist statement:
“The process of capturing the beauty that is an individual’s spirit has always been very intriguing to me. The art of storytelling has always influenced my multimedia artwork, and for that Iβm grateful. My eagerness and love for the world and others have pushed me to produce a body of work highlighting environmental spaces, communities, and individual muses. When I started working on the project that Iβve titled The Beauty of South Dallas, Capturing the Now Before the Future, I was excited yet nervous about where to begin. South Dallas is a large area, and I wanted to make sure to capture the essence of the land. I was incredibly thrilled about being given the opportunity to create under the Juanita Craft House Artist Residency, which is supported by the South Dallas Cultural Center. Learning about Juanita Craft’s life and history was truly extraordinary. I was thrilled by her mission to help heal others and her political activism during the Civil Rights Movement. Both the people and the land of South Dallas are beautiful. Many of the older buildings represent the struggles some people have faced growing up here, and, to me, that defines strength. Many areas within South Dallas are being developed, and I fear gentrification. My goal was to capture the current South Dallas before the future arrives because the people and places of today’s South Dallas are quite beautiful and unique indeed.”
Over a three month period, September to December 2020, Nitashia has endeavored to connect with the people of the community and use her talents as a multimedia artist/designer to capture the landscape and present it in this website The Beauty of South Dallas.
Nitashia Johnson graduated from Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in 2008 and went on to become a 2012 alumna of Texas Womanβs University with a BFA in Design Communication. She is also a first-round Sony Alpha Female Creator-in-Residence.
βNitashia is the creator of The Self Publication, a photographic series created to uplift the black community while dismantling harsh stereotypes associated with the culture, and The Smart Project, a creative after-school program for artistic teens.β She’s also an independent graphic designer, photographer, and video artist who loves to collaborate with others. Her unwavering passion for design and photography is remarkable.
She is an alumna of the Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) in the Art & Design Education program at the Rhode Island School of Design.
The artist is currently working as a full-time graphic designer and photographer while developing a community-based media arts program for high creative school teens.
View photos from opening night.
