Each Little Death is More Precious Than the Last
This exhibition comprises three large works on paper and 19 small works on paper from Nicola’s ‘200 Little Deaths’ and ‘NSFW’ series.
Working in her signature mixed-media style, Nicola uses watercolor, acrylic, and oil pastel to craft a dialogue between sexuality, self-pleasure, and liberation.
Each Little Death is More Precious Than the Last refers to the French word for orgasm: “Le Petit Mort” which translates to “The Little Death”. This term itself is a strange conflation of death and sex. Both are lenses through which society continues to appropriate black femme bodies.
Large Works from ‘200 Little Deaths’
In her three larger pieces from ‘200 Little Deaths’, Nicola depicts herself and two other black femmes posing in lingerie. Through energetic mark-making and mixed media expression, Nicola’s portraits exude the energy and power one experiences when reclaiming their sexual identity.
For Nicola, reclaiming one’s sexual agency through pleasure is an act of rebellion. History has long since created stereotypes that demonize and hypersexualize black sexuality and the black body. Deftly rendering three bold, black, and barely-clad womxn using unapologetic posing and a distinct palette, Nicola strips such stereotypes of their power.
Small NSFW Pieces
In Nicola’s body of smaller works, she recreates softcore and hardcore scenes of erotic nudity. The works read like a page in the artist’s visual diary as she documents self-pleasure, love-making, and joyful existence. Inspired by multiple sources such as her imagination, the internet, and life, Nicola uses her N