Nayana LaFond
Visual Art
About Nayana Lafond
Nayana LaFond is a professional artist, curator and Artivist living and working in western Massachusetts with her daughter. Nayana attended Greenfield Community College for Fine Art and Massachusetts College of Art for Photography. Nayana has been curating for over 15 years, including as chief curator for the Whitney Center for the Arts. She sits on several boards including Artist Organized Art and is an Advisory member for the Native Youth Empowerment Fund. Nayana’s work has always come from a place of trauma, healing and activism and can be seen in museums and private collections around the world. Her series of paintings titled “Portraits in RED, The Missing & Murdered Indigenous Peoples painting project”” will be going on tour through the Emerson Museum starting in 2022 until at least 2025 and a number of solo exhibitions of the collection are scheduled for 2022 through 2024.
Nayana’s Be the Change piece
Zoongide’e
(Ojibwe: he/she has a brave heart)
Through the strength of metal and fragility of glass I seek to construct a beacon and a sanctuary. Domestic violence is a topic which no one approaches lightly. In my own experiences I found that the sense of aloneness made it the most difficult to seek help and when I was able to seek assistance it was difficult to find. By gaining the courage to change things I found a sense of home and sanctuary for the first time. The Wigwam is a traditional home for most Northern Indigenous tribes, Of which I am a part. The sculpture will mirror the construction of a traditional wigwam and create a place where people can sit, reflect and find or give assistance. My hope is to provide a sense of support and inspiration for those seeking strength, to inspire people to find safety and inspire others to help make a change. The sculpture itself be an interplay of glass and metal creating warmth when you enter the structure through the light it allows inside.
Be The Change: Jewishly Inspired Public Art Movement
Be the Change is a 2022-2023 art and activism initiative that is inspired by the Jewish tenet of justice and drawing from the ritualistic Jewish Tzedakah box. Taking place in Boston, Cincinnati, L.A., and online, Be the Change will help viewers connect to issues of injustice and empower them to become agents of change.
View SeriesNayana's additional work with JArts
Nayana's work "Shayla in RED" was featured in the Humanity Is Not A Spectator Sport show at the Beacon Gallery in 2021.
How you can collaborate with Nayana
"I'm looking to collaborate in public art projects and events for social change."
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