Nai Davis

Academic Support Technician, Media Lab
Adjunct Instructor

Nai Davis is a multidisciplinary artist, educator, & DJ currently based in Brooklyn, New York. He received a BFA in Photography from Parsons, The New School for Design, and an MPS from New York University’s Interactive Telecommunications Program. He has taught in both the Design & Technology and Photography programs at Parsons, The New School for Design in New York City. Nai combines photography, design, mixed media, performance, programming, audio, and research to explore sociology as it relates to racial, gender, and class systems. Working with both visual and audio-based processes, Nai experiments with fabrication, multisensorial design, and installation. His work expands traditional artistic mediums through an interdisciplinary approach that implements new media art and design.

SAY HER NAME is a narrative-shifting and interactive portrait. It aims to celebrate and commemorate the life of Sandra Bland, who was wrongfully arrested and later murdered at the hands of law enforcement. Officials claimed she committed suicide, a narrative amplified by mainstream media. After her death, activists and protesters across America began the #SayHerName movement to honor and remember the names of Black women and girls who have been killed due to anti-black violence and police brutality in the US. This piece invites you to say Sandra Bland’s name aloud, keeping her story at the front of our collective consciousness. Once a viewer says her name aloud, the portrait transitions from invisible to visible, by bringing the portrait to full brightness. In addition to the portrait illuminating once her name is said, her name is printed out each time it is said by a viewer as a data collection of how many times her name was said.

 

  • Founded by inventor, industrialist and philanthropist Peter Cooper in 1859, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art offers education in art, architecture and engineering, as well as courses in the humanities and social sciences.

  • “My feelings, my desires, my hopes, embrace humanity throughout the world,” Peter Cooper proclaimed in a speech in 1853. He looked forward to a time when, “knowledge shall cover the earth as waters cover the great deep.”

  • From its beginnings, Cooper Union was a unique institution, dedicated to founder Peter Cooper's proposition that education is the key not only to personal prosperity but to civic virtue and harmony.

  • Peter Cooper wanted his graduates to acquire the technical mastery and entrepreneurial skills, enrich their intellects and spark their creativity, and develop a sense of social justice that would translate into action.