Nadiya Nacorda: The 2020 Lenscratch Student Prize: 2nd Place Winner

Nadiya Nacorda: The 2020 Lenscratch Student Prize: 2nd Place Winner by Julia BennettJuly 22, 2020

©Nadiya Nacorda

It is with so much pleasure and excitement that we announce the 2020 Lenscratch Student Prize 2nd Place Winner, Nadiya Nacorda. She was selected for her outstanding project, A special kind of double. Nadiya will receive an MFA in Art Photography at Syracuse University’s School of Visual and Performing Arts in 2021. Her awards include a feature on Lenscratch, a mini exhibition on the Curated Fridge, and a Lenscratch T-shirt and Tote.

The jurors included Guanyu Xu – 2019 Student Prize Winner, Zora Murff- 2018 Student Prize Winner, Shawn Bush – 2017 Student Prize Winner, Drew Nikonowicz – 2016 Student Prize Winner, Elizabeth Moran – 2013 Student Prize Winner, Aline Smithson – Lenscratch Founder & Editor in Chief, Brennan Booker – Lenscratch Director of Special Projects, and Daniel George – Lenscratch Submissions Editor. We had a record number of submissions and the competition was fierce.

Being an older sibling carries its own kind of special burdens and joys. You have a front row seat to all the mishaps, dares, victories, and secrets we all work so hard to hide from the adults in our lives. But as the older sibling, sometimes you feel the weight of responsibility of a parent. You want to give guidance, to reprimand bad decisions, to share in all the nuances of your siblings experiences. Nadiya Nacorda’s series A Special Kind of Double captures this constant push and pull of sibling-hood with tenderness and authority. Her archive of photographs exposes the blurred lines between herself and her family over time, drawing on nostalgia and mundanity to place the everyday experiences of black youth in America at center stage.

Nadiya Imani Loyisa Ntlabati Nacorda is a Blasian artist, photographer and Taurus currently living and working in Syracuse, NY. She was born in Detroit, MI to a Filipinx immigrant father and a Xhosa mother. Throughout the year, she travels around the country photographing her immediate family. Her work heavily draws from notions of intimacy, affection, displacement, and matrilineage within the context of Black and POC immigrant-American family life.

Nadiya received her BFA in Photography & Film from VCU Arts in Richmond, VA. She is currently pursuing an MFA in Art Photography at Syracuse University’s School of Visual and Performing Arts. Her work has been exhibited at the Midwest Center for Photography, the Detroit Public Library art gallery, RISD’s Red Eye Gallery in Providence, RI, and Candela Books + Gallery in Richmond, VA. She was also a 2019 finalist of the Magenta Foundation’s Flash Forward competition and was selected for the 2020 Lit List: Photographers to watch, hire and exhibit. Nadiya recently released a monograph through Kris Graves Projects.

A Special Kind of Double

“A sister can be seen as someone who is both ourselves and very much not ourselves
– a special kind of double.” -Toni Morrison

I have spent about a decade photographing my two youngest siblings: Khaya ‘04 and Thandiswa ‘06 throughout their lives. As their older sister of 13 and 15 years, I began documenting their childhood, their growth, from a place of nostalgia. Seeking to create an archive of images to serve as evidence of our existence, significance, and humanity in a world that seeks to erase us.

Although the photographs only feature Thandi and Khaya, it serves as a love letter to all five of my younger siblings. As the eldest child, they are my best friends and my greatest loves. Our special bonds have their own rhythm, power, and magic that only belong to us. This work provides you a glimpse into our world. One full of play and innocence, that grants refuge and solidarity in the face of traumas and struggles unique to us as Black youth in America.