Artist Spotlight: Niā MacKnight

Niā MacKnight builds her artistic vision on the scaffolding of all that she came from. A product of Anishinaabe, Lakhóta, and Scottish ancestry, MacKnight has seen firsthand the power and limitations of cross-cultural communication. "My mom's a painter, and she showed me how powerful the visual language is, but also how limiting a spoken language can be." 

She's based out of Los Angeles, which has also provided her with conflicting influences. She relates that "driving through Los Angeles [one is] constantly observing narratives developing, and they're often in contrast with each other."

MacKnight was the first in her family to pursue higher education and holds a Bachelor's in Psychology, which she carries through her artwork. She previously attended the San Francisco Art Institute and studied photojournalism, but observed that in the late 2000s, "people were very fixated on poverty and pain. I just personally didn't feel right to be telling stories that way." So, using her familiarity with the field of psychology, she "pivoted into a world of understanding the role of behavior within mental health, a catalyst for a lot of the art-making that [she does] now."

Her process is defined by a deliberate, progressive, and interdisciplinary approach. She said, "Photography is definitely that foundational layer, but also the means to create something later. Sometimes the photograph speaks with so much power on its own." She continued, "Sometimes it's very clear to me that a photo is actually just one layer in the process. I'm going to have it combined with many other images, or a different material, or a different scale."

For MacKnight, creating also means patience. "There are some works that have existed in my head, or on my hard drive, for 10 years... I'm just waiting for that space that seems appropriate to share them," said MacKnight. Now, interdisciplinarity enthuses MacKnight. "I'm really excited about exploring new methods of layered and mixed-media processes and not knowing what will happen," she said. At a recent residency in Ely, Minnesota, she combined her heritage with this mixed-form exploration. She reflected, "I was there for a week, and the whole time I was in the studio exploring all different types of methods and materials, and also the cultural significance for me." She specifically recalls, "working with Birchbark was something very traditional as an Ojibwe person. So, I thought a lot about how I was utilizing that material as a way to carry on this method of telling our story."

In addition to her own creations, MacKnight teaches photography, design, and mixed media to high school students in the LA area. For young artists, she shared this advice from her own experience: "You may not know exactly what you're doing right now, but if you trust the process, with time, you will end up where you are supposed to be. That's the beauty of being an artist. You're humbled daily, but that patience, that grace that you give yourself, will further your practice. As humans, we're not supposed to be perfect, and the way that we interact with our work reveals that - We're reinterpreting, we're making mistakes, we're growing, and that's just part of the process."