Friend of My Mind
The Graphic Design department is delighted to welcome back Nontsikelelo Mutiti, celebrated artist, designer, and former Purchase faculty member, for her exhibition Friend of My Mind at the Richard and Dolly Maass Gallery.
Mutiti, who taught in the New Media program at Purchase from 2012 to 2017, has since become an influential figure in contemporary art and design. Currently the Director of Graduate Studies in Graphic Design at the Yale School of Art, her practice moves across media—print, typography, moving image, installation, and objects—bringing together traditions, archives, and community engagement.
Her work frequently revisits themes of African hair braiding as a living archive, a cultural practice, and a form of resistance, weaving together histories of displacement, belonging, and care. Friend of My Mind reflects this approach, inviting us to engage with memory, form, and social connection in urgent and generative ways.
This exhibition is also a collaborative effort. Josh Tonsfeldt, Adjunct Professor of Graphic Design, and students in the Community Design course have contributed to the production and presentation of the show. The publication team includes: Kristen Azzara, Jack Coffey, Sofia Mancz, Brandon Meyers, Diego Vivar. Additional class members also played vital roles in vinyl production, installation, and other aspects of the exhibition: Joseph Almodovar, Pierce Aquilla, Matthew Lang, Skye Lindsay, Cristian Marrero, Kaitlyn McGovern, Michael Portonova, David Saias-Kantor, and Christopher Volpe.
We warmly invite you to join us for the opening and to celebrate the return of a friend to our community.
ARTIST BIOGRAPHY
Nontsikelelo Mutiti’s practice spans fine art, design, and public engagement, grounded in self-initiated research and applied projects that explore Black diaspora aesthetics—including modularity, repetition, motifs, and layered meaning. She approaches design not only as a method for framing ideas but also as a form of shelter: a means of home-making that honors Black life and cultural value.
Working across print and digital media, Mutiti often privileges tactile, sequential, and democratically distributed forms. She reimagines culturally specific references in new contexts, creating space for fresh interpretation while honoring ancestral and community knowledge.
Collaboration is central to her process. She builds multidisciplinary teams rooted in shared learning, care, and collective growth. Whether working independently or in partnership with institutions, Mutiti is committed to producing culturally resonant, high-quality work—and to building future archives that elevate the visibility of artists, thinkers, and institutions whose contributions merit lasting engagement.
Mutiti holds a diploma in Multimedia from the Zimbabwe Institute of Visual Arts (ZIVA) and an MFA in Graphic Design from the Yale School of Art. She has also been awarded an honorary doctorate from Montserrat College of Art. She is currently Director of Graduate Studies in Graphic Design at the Yale School of Art. She has previously taught at ZIVA, SUNY Purchase College, and Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of the Arts.
Her work has been presented internationally in exhibitions such as Entryways (Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, 2023), O Quilombismo (HKW, Berlin, 2023), TEXTURES: The History of Black Hair (Kent State University Museum, 2021), Sampled Ground (DAADGalerie, Berlin, 2021), BOXWALLPOTS (Stable, Washington, DC, 2021), BMA Salon (Baltimore Museum of Art, 2020), Living in America (ICP, New York, 2020), Surfacing (Mono Practice, Baltimore, 2020), Talking Pictures (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2017), On Visibility and Camouflage (We Buy Gold, Brooklyn, 2016), Dreamlands: Immersive Cinema and Art, 1905–2016 (Whitney Museum, 2016), and Salon Style (Studio Museum in Harlem, 2015).
Mutiti’s major design commissions include publications for Njideka Akunyili Crosby (David Zwirner Books), Derek Fordjour (David Kordansky Gallery), Simone Leigh (ICA Boston, Guggenheim, New Museum), and Àsìkò (CCA Lagos). She has contributed to critical discourse through projects such as Where Is Africa (CARA), Studies into Darkness (Vera List Center), and web design for the Practicing Refusal Collective. She also led identity design for Black Women Artists for Black Lives Matter and Loophole of Retreat at the Venice Biennale.
Her residencies and awards include the DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program (2022), Berlin Artistic Program (2021), Soros Arts Fellowship from the Open Society Foundations (2019), History of Art: Women in Publishing (Center for Book Arts, 2019), Joan Mitchell Foundation Emerging Artist Grant (2015), and Ruka (To Braid/To Knit/To Weave) for Recess Session (2014).