About me
Marilyn Nance’s artistry takes on many forms including photographs, prints, fiber arts, installation, and social practice. A graduate of New York University’s Interactive Telecommunications Program, Nance is a digital pioneer. An artifact of the ancient web, her website soulsista.com has remained online without interruption for 30 years. Known for her persistence, meticulous recordkeeping, and preservation, Nance vigorously encourages others to care for their collections. Her motto is:
Keep the archive safe.
Organize the archive.
Make the archive accessible.
Nance's photographs are active agents in the work of diasporic memory, a concept elucidated by Nydia A. Swaby, a Black feminist, artist-researcher, and author of the book, “ Amy Ashwood Garvey and the Future of Black Feminist Archives”.
Marilyn Nance’s work can be found in the collections of the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Modern Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and the Library of Congress, and has been published in The World History of Photography, History of Women in Photography and The Black Photographers Annual.
Drawing from her extensive archive, Nance published, “Last Day in Lagos” chronicling the exuberant intensity and sociopolitical significance of the extraordinary Pan African event FESTAC 77, the Second World Festival of Black and African Arts and Culture. After publishing this book, Nance was made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society, a worldwide community of photographers committed to bringing photography to everyone.
Nance lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.
