10 Questions with Nikki Raitz

Nikki Raitz is a fine artist and photographer from Atlanta, Georgia. Her photographic works focus mainly on movement and drama. Motion and mystery deeply inspire Nikki, and this theme can be seen throughout most of her works today. Her body of work includes conceptual photography, illustrations, and portraiture.

Nikki is an emerging artist whose work has been shown regionally, nationally, and internationally. She is classically trained as a painter and works as both an illustrator and a photographer. Her portfolio works are constantly growing, and she is committed to creating new work, chasing new inspiration, and following through with continued strong public exhibition appearances.

nikkiraitz.com | @nikkiraitzphotography

 ARTIST STATEMENT

“In this photographic series, I’m using the dance community as a vehicle to address everyone’s new normal during this time of crisis. COVID took over our communities, daily lives, and habitual practices with startling intensity. It changed what we wore, how we behaved, and how we interacted with the world around us. In these photographs, you can see COVID represented in the shocking shades of red, the large swaths of sheer fabric, and the masks on people’s faces. And, in each photo, you’ll notice each dancer stands alone, as many of us have during this new era of isolation.

Throughout the series, you can see each person become consumed by their surroundings or emerge in a beautiful partnership with their new environment. While their positions may change, the color stays the same. The choice to use red predominantly in each of the shots serves to steal your focus and grab your attention, just like the pandemic has done to all of us in these past several months. While the fabric seen in several shots is used to represent the symbolic wall of space we’ve been taught to build around us, keeping others six feet away. Some of us have flourished and some of us have crumbled, but either way, we’ve all had to learn to adjust to our new limitations and our new states of isolation.”

INTERVIEW

Could you tell us a little more about your background? How did you start experimenting with images?

I grew up in a very creative family that helped foster an artistic interest in me from a very young age. This passion truly grew and blossomed as I got older and has led me to explore painting, drawing, and photography in depth. Currently, I am classically trained as a painter in a Bachelor of Fine Arts program near Atlanta. Photography was something I stumbled upon during an elective course, and I fell in love with the process. It became a new avenue to explore visual content and a passion part of my artistic process.

What is your personal aim as an artist?

My aim as an artist is to share a unique and uplifting perspective. Most of my work draws upon the inspiration from the cinema or hearing from mystery stories. The feeling that I hope people take away from my work is one full of whimsy, drama and intrigue. I am deeply passionate about exploring ways to capture a moving subject in a still photographic medium and crossing the lines between video and stills, feminism and a woman’s position, mystery and movement, and color and light.

How did you come up with the idea for “The New World: Isolation” series?

This series was a part of a collection that went on display in Atlanta, Georgia, with a local organization as a part of Atlanta’s annual festival titled “Atlanta Celebrates Photography.” The series is inspired by how COVID affected me personally and the dance community at my college. This series seeks to explore how our many of our inner worlds changed and how that can be reflected as a part of an external image study.

Your series reflects on COVID and how the pandemic changed our normality. How has your artistic process changed over the past year? 

My protocol changed with the world. Things became safer but things also became scarcer. Finding ways to be safe with a model was a new hurdle and the communal space I had been using as my photographic studio became closed off to the public. So, my artistic practice moved fully into my house which ended up being an incredible positive change to my set-up.

What was the most challenging part of your project?

Ensuring Covid safety and becoming familiar with a new dynamic were the most challenging details for this project. We are all learning to adapt to this new environment, and I am no exception.

How do you see the project evolving in the upcoming years?

I hope this series travels for the next couple of years, that it reaches people who, like me, were not touched by death but were touched by restriction. This series of images was personally impactful for me, and I hope that that is a feeling that carries over to others who see and can connect with the mood and emotions conveyed in the images.

What do you hope that the public takes away from your work?

Alienation and apathy are very prevalent emotions across the world right now. If my work can help others feel connected or more interested in the world around them, that would be my highest goal. My perspective will, of course, be different from others, just as others will differ from mine, but I hope through these pictures to help alleviate a sense of solitude in those that feel alone.

Do you find that the shift to digital exhibitions and art fairs has helped you promote your work?

For me, the shift to digital was unexpected. My presence on the public art scene has only occurred during this strange new normal, and strangely enough, I think that the shift has opened many doors for me. While living in different stages of seclusion of the past year, the accessibility of online gallery opportunities has given me a platform to explore and begin to establish my voice as an artist.

I look forward to the day where gallery openings and art events are once again safe, but until then, I feel very blessed with the opportunities I have been a part of and will be a part of going forward.

We are at the beginning of a new year, what is one thing you wish to achieve in 2021? 

I wish to create and share work abundantly and explore many prosperous avenues in the art world and outside of it. I hope this year to follow the universe and see where it leads me next. New work, new opportunities, and new inspirations are what I hope to attract this coming year.

Finally, share something you would like the world to know about you?

 I want the world to know that I am here, I am young, and I am actively pursuing inspiration and avenues for collaboration. I am bringing a fresh perspective, and I am delighted at the idea that there may be ways for me to share it.