Photographer Feature: Genevieve Gaignard


“Black enough to be black? White enough to be white?”

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“Genevieve Gaignard’s work exists in a space of in-between. Gaignard, who is mixed-race, uses a range of character performance, self-portraiture and sculpture to explore blackness, whiteness, femininity, class and intersections therein. The daughter of a black father and white mother in a Massachusetts mill town, Gaignard’s youth was marked by a strong sense of invisibility. Was her family white enough to be white? Black enough to be black? Gaignard interrogates notions of “passing” in an effort to address these questions. She positions her own female body as the chief site of exploration, challenging viewers to navigate the powers and anxieties of intersectional identity.” —Shulamit Nazarian Gallery, Los Angeles, CA.

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Genevieve Gaignard was born in 1981 in Orange, Massachusetts. Gaignard received her BA in Photography at Massachusetts College of Art and Design and her MFA in Photography at Yale University. She has exhibited throughout the United States, including shows at The California African American Museum, The Cabin LA in Los Angeles and the FLAG Art Foundation in New York. She has been featured in several publications including The New York Times and Los Angeles Times. She lives and works in Los Angeles, CA.


Shenyah Webb

Shenyah Webb is a Portland-based visual artist and musician. She has been with NAILED Magazine since its inception in 2012 and has served as the Arts Editor and a Contributing Editor since its launch in 2013. A Detroit native, she attended The College for Creative Studies, where she focused on Fine Art and Industrial Design. She is currently enrolled in a Somatic Expressive Arts Education and Therapy training program, studying under Lanie Bergin. You can learn more about Shenyah here. (Shenyah.com)

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