Meet our first Artist-in-Residence: Chi Nwosu
We’re so excited to introduce our first Artist-in-Residence, Chi Nwosu (them/they)! Chi is a Black, nonbinary, queer Nigerian artist. Their art invites viewers to imagine collective liberation, envisioning communities rooted in kindness, compassion, and care. Their practice moves with spirit and the wisdom of feeling, shaped by kinship with the more-than-human world and by our living histories of international resistance.
Over the course of this paid, five month residency, Third Wave Fund will collaborate with Chi in creating art for social change with a by-and-for community funder. Art is one of the most accessible tools our movements have to move people from emotion to action. When given the space, time, and resources to create in community, artists can offer transformative ways to communicate stories, ideas, and solutions.
We believe it is integral to cultivate deep-rooted and collaborative relationships with visual movement artists to ensure that our calls to action remain clear, far-reaching, and irresistible.
Continue reading to hear directly from Chi about their creative practice, inspiration, and vision for gender justice!
Q: Tell us a little bit about you and your art practice?
"I am a Black, nonbinary, queer Nigerian artist. I create art to help others envision a world nourished by love, curiosity, play, and mutuality. My practice moves with spirit and the wisdom of feeling, shaped by kinship with the more-than-human world and by our living histories of international resistance. I hope that engaging with my art invites others to remember that we are seeds of change and possibility."
Q: What are your big three signs? Which one do you identify with the strongest?
"As a Libran, I’ve always felt deeply connected to my longing for beauty. I used to believe that surrounding myself with beauty was frivolous or shallow, but I know now how that narrative creates shame and separation from ourselves. Over time, I’ve come to understand that beauty is not a luxury, rather, it’s a way of reorienting myself in the world. Beauty lives in the soulful connections I share with kin, in the warmth of the sun on my face when I pause to notice, and yes, in the presence of beautifully made things. I have survived by creating beauty in my lowest moments, by noticing it all around me, and by helping others find their way back to it. Our existence, in all its tenderness and imperfection, is so achingly beautiful, wondrous, and miraculous."
Q: What words of advice would you give to an artist making art for social change?
"Tend to your feelings with curiosity, care, and imagination. When you’re feeling stuck, pause and listen. Ask yourself: Where does anger live in my body, and what is trying to tell me? Anger is often the body’s outpouring of recognition of injustice. What are the injustices that you, your chosen family, or your community have experienced? What stories shaped the person you are today? What do you need to release so you can plant new seeds? And how might you tell a different story, one that reimagines what you, your neighborhood, your city, or this world could become?"
Q: What does gender justice & liberation look like to you?
"White supremacy culture has colonized our bodies and our indigenous understanding of self. Gender, like nature, is ever-changing, fluid, alive, and expansive. We belong to the Earth, and nature offers us endless wisdom about transformation and possibility. The binary construct we’ve created to make sense of the world is too often used to police and criminalize our bodies. The future calls to return to embracing the fluidity and divinity inherent to all beings, to bodies that are sources of liberation, not oppression, and to systems that support our transformations with love, care, and community, instead of punishment."
Stay tuned for more exciting announcements from Chi and our Artist-in-Residence program, and learn more about their work here!
