Growing up in Saint Vincent & the Grenadines, Nadia Huggins was raised just a short walk from a beach. During her adolescent years, she enjoyed climbing and jumping off rocks with "the boys" she became friends with. She soon developed an interest in photography and bought her first camera.[1]
Huggins, became interested in photographing people and their experiences around the Caribbean. Her passion lies in capturing images in the sea, which allows her to see the beauty of not only by what can be seen above the surface, but also what you cannot see below. Nadia has learned to overcome her fear of the water by photographing herself inside in the water. She compares objects such as sea urchins and underwater flora to her own body's texture and parts.
Career and work
Nadia Huggins co-founded ARC Magazine in 2011. ARC's mission is to expand creative culture, within the visual arts industry across the wider Caribbean and its diasporas.[2]
Huggins, has most recently worked on Fighting the Currents project, which focuses on bodies underwater. Nadia, uses her own body, the ocean, and marine organisms to compare the similarities within. Huggins states, "Most people's experience with the sea occurs at eye level with the horizon and they are oblivious to what is happening below the surface. I am interested in the notion that 'just because you can't see something doesn't mean it isn't there."[3]
Exhibitions
2011 – About Change, The World Bank Group Washington DC, US
2014 – 2014 Frames: Projecting International Photography, Glasgow, Scotland, UK[4]
2014 – (e)merge Art Fair: ARC + NLS collaboration, Washington DC[5]
2016 – Featured artist for Third Horizon Caribbean Film Festival, Miami, US[7](2016) Embodied Islands: A Caribbean photographic exhibition, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK
2019 – A Love Ethic, Wedge Curatorial Projects, Gladstone Hotel, Toronto, Canada[17]
Awards
2015 – Festival Caribeen de L'image du Mémorial Acte – 2015 Jury Prize. Category: Photographer. Awarded by La Région Guadeloupe.[18][non-primary source needed]