nik rye
Hometown: Fort Lauderdale, FL
Fall 2020 – present
MFA in Studio Art
FSU Legacy Fellowship
Utilizing the immense privilege of being a graduate student and recipient of The Legacy Fellowship, nik rye has explored their art practice and research through a series of works currently entitled The Tallahassee Project. So far, the series has included works such as Tally Community Aid (2020), 7 Days a Diamond (2021), and Keith Stafford Was Murdered (2021) which have been throughly represented in local and regional media outlets, such as the front page of the Tallahassee Democrat. In 2021, nik also participated in and hosted a number of lectures, rallies, and speaker panels. Notably, they hosted Spare Change Tallahassee featuring Keith McHenry, cofounder of Food Not Bombs Global and was a keynote speaker at the City Walk Shelter vs City Hall rally. nik also lectured on mutual aid organizing as a guest speaker in an FSU religions course. nik rye has exhibited their work within Working Method Contemporary, Phyllis Strauss Gallery, 621 Gallery, and The Plant as a solo show. Cat Family Records has also published a mini documentary of the artist's work and profile entitled No Islands: nik rye. The Fellows Society has provided an adequate source of reflection and solidarity as nik rye continues their FSU graduate student experience.
Educational/Professional Background
nik rye received a BA in Ceramics & Printmaking from Florida State University and an AS in Graphic Design from Broward College. They are currently instructing in the FSU Fine Arts Department and working within the local community as a houseless rights activist using their organization, Tally Community Aid. Prior to continuing their education, as an individual experiencing houselessness, they dedicated 10 years to intersectional poverty activism & art working in groups such as Food Not Bombs, Autonomous Playhouse, Black Lives Matter Miami, Broward Houseless Alliance, Occupy Wall Street, Invisible People FTL, Womyn of Folk, Poetry is for Queers, and RYPE.
Research and Teaching Interests, or Professional Field
The Relationship is the Object. Community is the heart of nik rye's research, teaching philosophy, and artistic practice. Emerging from an impoverished childhood, inherited generational trauma, & the resulting impact as a houseless adult, their research lends itself toward the provocation of empathy through antagonism in exploration of community-building praxis beyond theory. Prison abolition, harm reduction, houseless experience, mutual aid, media representation, anti-capitalism , and basic human rights are foundational topics of research. nik is devoted to practice and process over theory focusing on collaboration, protest, and community engagement within their participatory art practice.
Future Plans/Aspirations
The future remains unwritten as part of nik's art practice. However, they do have considerable aspirations including the formulation of larger community-oriented projects, socially engaged residencies nationally and globally, and the furthered development of non-hierarchical education in art practice & community empowerment. Of course, nik rye will continue to engage in human rights activism as a life work.