In September, one of our favorite artists, Dominique Moody, became the centerpiece in the NY Times! Moody is showcasing her creative former dwelling, The NOMAD, outside the Hammer Museum from now until December 31 2023 for the museum’s biennial showcase “Made in L.A.”.
The NOMAD is an Art Truck and Trailer Dwelling that functions as a Mobile Artist in Residence. It is a continued work in process inspired by found objects and the nomadic legacy of my family and ancestral lineage. NOMAD is an acronym for Narrative, Odyssey, Manifesting, Artistic, Dreams. Its porch is a welcoming space for storytelling and sharing, inspired by memories of home.
Most recently, we partnered with Dominique Moody for 2021 WE RISE LA, a mental health initiative that utilizes art for collective healing, to share public artwork representing and honoring rich stories derived from South LA. Through a process of cutting sixteen silhouettes out of laser cut di-bond metal, Moody represented the individuals in neighborhoods throughout South LA who shared their meaningful stories about community wellness, healing, and their visions for the future.
"Like most art, it starts with something you are inspired by. And the opportunity of doing this at this very strange and difficult time was part of that inspiration. Art will often create in the midst of despair and what you end up doing is transforming that energy of despair and trauma into something healing and transformative. The earliest seeds were, how do we bring in and listen to these stories and find seeds of inspiration out of those stories. Just allowing the story circles to happen was a nurturing ground to finding those stories. People were so willing to share rich thoughts, their memories - so we were looking at both past, present and future. The questions were extraordinary by young people to elicit that story."
-Dominique Moody, Lead Artist
We’re so excited that artists like Moody are receiving the recognition they deserve as well as the next generation of creative minds leading our public arts programming!