Get to know me

NYAH DOE

Looking at my work puts you inside the mind and experiences of a daughter of immigrants and a matriarchy. Surrounded by diversity and raised by a matriarch, I work with the responsibility to create pieces that are socially and culturally responsible. My work draws upon my Liberian heritage and upbringing in the Washington D.C. metro area, which afforded me the opportunity to be exposed to an abundance of cultures and backgrounds.

I am a self-taught artist who found my footing long before any formal training. In high school, I completed a Visual Arts Academy program that gave structure to what I had already been building on my own. That foundation continued in college, where pursuing a graphic design major required me to immerse myself fully in fine arts — sharpening my eye, expanding my mediums, and deepening my understanding of visual storytelling.

It was my time teaching at a charter school serving incarcerated youth that changed everything. Watching young people find themselves through art gave me permission to find myself too. That experience is where my artistic identity took root — in the celebration of Black femininity and the profound contributions Black women have made to their communities. My work renders everyday rituals and adornment — grillz, jewelry, flowers — not as decoration, but as identity, presence, and cultural statement, executed across oil and digital mediums in a consistent palette of teal, gold, coral, and violet.

Maya Angelou once said, "We all should know that diversity makes for a rich tapestry, and we must understand that all the threads of the tapestry are equal in value no matter what their color." My pieces visually display through various design mediums this diversity and make the minority threads in this tapestry feel seen — because the majority can often overshadow the minority, and my work refuses to let that happen quietly.