Nīa MacKnight is a lens-based artist and educator based in Tongva Territory (Los Angeles, California). Her camera forges a space where conceptual and documentary genres meet to transform scenes of daily life into sites for healing. By turning to the paradigms of her Anishinaabe/Lakhóta/Scottish ancestry, she examines narratives of self-determination within urban modes of existence.
MacKnight holds a Bachelor’s in Psychology from Cal State University Dominguez Hills, and a Master’s in Education from Cal State University Long Beach and has served as faculty at Los Angeles Unified School District, Idyllwild Arts Academy, and Wildwood School. Her commissioned work has been featured in publications such as The New Yorker, High Country News, The New York Times, Al Jazeera, and HuffPost.
MINJIMENDAN (REMEMBER) honors the legacy of Nīa MacKnight’s great-grandfather John B. McGillis by examining the complexities that McGillis faced as an Anishinaabe man navigating early 20th-century assimilation policies, as well as his devotion to expanding access for his people through acts of self-determination and joy.
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