Prinston Nnanna is just beginning to exhibit his intimate, yet subversive, portraits. The charcoal drawn works on hand-toned paper have stood out in the group shows they have been a part of. Recurring motifs include butterflies, bees and geometric patterns that all have iconographical weight within the artist’s practice. His state goal is to “depict the elegance of the Black figure at the same time as reconstructing the image in which society has painted people of colour.”
Over the last year Nnanna’s work has been included in several group shows, Paper View, The Hole, Grand Rapids; Drawn Together Again, The Flag Art Foundation, New York; Breaching the Margins, Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts, Grand Rapids and as a finalist in the 2019 AXA XL Catlin Art Prize Exhibition, New York Academy of Art, New York. Nanna won first prize for the 19th Annual Citywide African American Artists Exhibition, Houston (2017).