iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Steven Nelson @snelsonus.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

Same doorway, Provincetown, MA, 1984/2026.

2180

Steven Nelson @snelsonus.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Dr. Strangelove Or: How I Learned To Love the Bomb.

000

Steven Nelson @snelsonus.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

I wrote two essays on Betye Saar shortly after my mother died in 2017. When I interviewed Betye, she knew I was kind of a mess, but she was so kind. I still have the recording. A couple of months later, we did a public conversation at the LA Craft and Folk Art Museum. She was the best.

0153

Steven Nelson @snelsonus.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

Ripley, OH was a center of Underground Railroad activity and the home to John Parker and John Rankin, who it is said helped thousands escape bondage in the South. Parker’s house in on the Ohio River, which separates Ohio from Kentucky and before the Civil War, separated freedom from slavery.

082

Steven Nelson @snelsonus.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

Brilliance at the Barbie Pond on Ave Q in DC.

183

Steven Nelson @snelsonus.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

In working on my current book called, "Structural Adjustment: Mapping and the Visual Cultures of Blackness," I came across a graphic I made for the Boston Globe in 1985 for a story written by @markmuro1.bsky.social on maps and their biases.

031

Steven Nelson @snelsonus.bsky.social · 19/02/2026

Given our current political climate, I am deeply honored to be the recipient of the 2026 College Art Association Excellence in Diversity Award, which recognizes outstanding efforts in arts programming, projects, and/or scholarship to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion.

4235

Steven Nelson @snelsonus.bsky.social · 24/01/2026

My dog is not happy with this cold weather.

010

Steven Nelson @snelsonus.bsky.social · 18/01/2026

Sunday in our nation’s capital.

030

Steven Nelson @snelsonus.bsky.social · 17/01/2026

I’m so happy to see Leigh Raiford’s brilliant book, “When Home is a Photograph,” coming out in the Duke University Press series, “The Visual Arts of Africa and Its Diasporas,” which I co-edit with Dr. Kellie Jones.

1121

Steven Nelson @snelsonus.bsky.social · 15/01/2026

“Nigerian Modernism” at Tate Modern is a breathtaking exhibition that details the artists and cultural figures working during much of the 20th century. The work is incredible, and the exhibition expertly curated.

1155

Steven Nelson @snelsonus.bsky.social · 11/01/2026

Artist formerly known, “The Cholmondeley sisters and their swaddled babies,” c.1600–1610. This is one of my favorite paintings at Tate Britain.

0223

Steven Nelson @snelsonus.bsky.social · 01/01/2026

I was out there as well (just happened to be driving by). There were not a lot of folks out there. Damn, that thing was tacky.

050

Steven Nelson @snelsonus.bsky.social · 01/01/2026

Bizarre and tacky projections on the Washington Monument.

270

Steven Nelson @snelsonus.bsky.social · 14/12/2025

Bookshelf Residency: Feminist Press at ICA LA is a fantastic look at the venue’s 55 years of publishing. Some of the best known and most important feminist work in both fiction and non-fiction came out of this press. It’s great to learn more about its history.

061

Steven Nelson @snelsonus.bsky.social · 16/11/2025

How you park your VEVO bike when you don’t realize that you’re not the only person on the planet.

5414

Steven Nelson @snelsonus.bsky.social · 13/11/2025

Films, panels, and artist presentations at Howard University this weekend. If you’re in the area, join us!

130

Steven Nelson @snelsonus.bsky.social · 10/11/2025

Happening this Wednesday at Bates College. My lecture, tilted “The Underground Railroad, Quilts, and the Power of Desire,” will take place at 4:30 in the Benjamin Mays Center. If you’re in the area, please come!

092

Steven Nelson @snelsonus.bsky.social · 10/11/2025

It was wonderful to have taken part in the gathering “The Education of the Eyes: 150 Years of Art History at Harvard,” this past weekend. Seeing old and new friends, mentors, colleagues, and students was exhilarating. Photo by Sarah Lewis. #arthistory #closelooking

1110

Steven Nelson @snelsonus.bsky.social · 18/10/2025

#nokings rally DC. Note the snipers on the roof of the National Gallery of Art.

1309

Steven Nelson @snelsonus.bsky.social · 10/10/2025

It was wonderful being in conversation with artist Victor Ekpuk about his fantastic work late night. From Victor: “When someone grounds their research about your art in cultural historical facts and quotes you verbatim, you know you’re talking to an art historian.”

0100

Steven Nelson @snelsonus.bsky.social · 03/10/2025

This exhibition is an extraordinary cavalcade of work from that time that gives a broad view of Black makers and their formal and social concerns. The exhibition design is extraordinary.

051

Steven Nelson @snelsonus.bsky.social · 03/10/2025

The were joined by a second work.

060

Steven Nelson @snelsonus.bsky.social · 03/10/2025

The Trump-Epstein friendship statue has returned to the National Mall, on 3rd St. by the National Gallery of Art East Building.

170

Steven Nelson @snelsonus.bsky.social · 28/09/2025

Excited to be in conversation with artist Victor Ekpuk about his work. The event will be held Oct. 8 at the Goethe-Institut. It’s free and open to the public. www.eventbrite.com/e/creating-p...

Victor Ekpuk, “Dancer,” 2025. It’s a 10-foot-tall bright red public sculpture shaped like a person.

050

Steven Nelson @snelsonus.bsky.social · 08/09/2025

Victor Ekpuk’s wonderful 10-foot dancer was installed on Saturday in Washington, DC. It’s located at the corner of 14th and R sts. NW.

1101

Steven Nelson @snelsonus.bsky.social · 03/09/2025

Great news! The Baltimore Museum of Art is taking “Amy Sherald: American Sublime,” which was originally scheduled to take place at the National Portrait Gallery. artbma.org/exhibition/a...

604669766

Steven Nelson @snelsonus.bsky.social · 30/07/2025

Loved seeing @sandrabernhard.bsky.social performing at the Provincetown Town Hall this evening.

030

Steven Nelson @snelsonus.bsky.social · 15/07/2025

After seven years at the Center for the Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, two as Andrew W. Mellon Professor and five as Dean, I will retire from the National Gallery of Art on July 18. I am proud of what we have accomplished since 2020. (1/3)

4463

Steven Nelson @snelsonus.bsky.social · 29/05/2025

Out of many wonderful events during my tenure at the UCLA African Studies Center, one of the most extraordinary was Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o’s 2017 James Coleman Lecture. Reading from his writings and reminiscing on work and life, Ngugi’s presentation was simply mind altering. Rest in peace and power.

180

Steven Nelson @snelsonus.bsky.social · 24/05/2025

As concrete marker of Black history and heritage and as foundation for experimentation with form, #africanart played a huge role in #elizabethcatlett’s psychologically penetrating and spatially inventive sculpture.

180

Steven Nelson @snelsonus.bsky.social · 24/05/2025

Though #ElizabethCatlett is best known for her works on paper and sculpture, she was a formidable painter. You can see these works on view at the National Gallery of Art.

2365