Nari Ward

Nari Ward

b. 1963, Saint Andrew Parish, Jamaica
lives in New York

Nari Ward’s sculptures incorporate a wide range of found objects, including strollers, shoelaces, obsolete technology, and fire hoses, juxtaposed to create evocative yet open-ended installations. Through his materials, Ward raises questions about race, class, and consumption, and about how traces of these social phenomena are evidenced in everyday objects. Ward participated in Prospect.1 (2008–9) and has been invited to return to New Orleans with this history in mind. Recent exhibitions of his work include Nari Ward: We the People, Contemporary Arts Museum Houston and New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York (both 2019), and Nari Ward: Sun Splashed, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston (2017), Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia (2016), and Pérez Art Museum Miami (2015). Ward has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the United States Artists Fellowship Award (2020), Vilcek Prize in Fine Arts (2017), and the Joyce Award (2015). Ward received a BA from the City University of New York, Hunter College (1989), and an MFA from the City University of New York, Brooklyn College (1992).

Nari Ward, T.P. Reign Bow, 2012 Wood, blue tarp, brass grommets, zippers, human hair, and taxidermy fox. 224 x 156 x 270 inches. Courtesy the artist and Lehmann Maupin, New York, Hong Kong, and Seoul. Photo: Elisabeth Bernstein