David Uzochukwu and Nigel Poor

Whether you’re an art director or illustrator, working freelance or in-house, storytelling is one element that is constantly considered when working on a creative project. Over the years at It’s Nice That, we’ve seen narratives relayed in all manners, from the more on-the-nose editorials to ambiguous and abstract paintings. With this in mind, we’ve selected this month’s speakers to discuss the breadth and multiplicity in creative storytelling, focusing on two highly original projects courtesy of photographer David Uzochukwu and artist Nigel Poor.

First up, we’ll welcome the Bay Area-based author and artist Nigel Poor who’ll fill us in on her new bookThe San Quentin Project. Addressing how photography can be used to rehabilitate in prisons, the publication uncovers a largely unseen archive of daily life inside one of America’s oldest and largest prisons. Since 2011, she’s collaborated with incarcerated people at San Quentin State Prison, teaching a series of photography classes which help provide a creative outlet for the inmates. A truly fascinating and original project, Nigel will discuss the book, the incredible work which took place to inform it, and in turn, shed light on the prison system in America.

Headlining this month’s event is the Berlin-based David Uzochukwu, someone that needs no introduction. The work of the Austrian and Nigerian visual artist is rooted in self portraiture and questions of “(be)longing”. Powerfully reclaiming the narrative of Black bodies in the arts, the self-taught artist also explores strength, masculinity and resilience across his poignant body of work.

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David Uzochukwu

One of the best-known names in photography,Davidis a visual artist and photographer has stunned the industry with his personal investigations of strength, masculinity, resilience and belonging, expressed through digital reconfigured landscapes and the idea of the surreal. Based in Berlin, a few years ago, we saw him capture the human vulnerability of FKA twigs inCrack Magazine’s Dream Warrior Issue. Elsewhere he has collaborated with Pharrell Williams and Louis XIII Cognac, created his first short film, all while pursuing a degree in Philosophy in Berlin. At June’s Nicer Tuesdays, we’ll chat to David at length about how he crafts fantastical stories through visual art and photography, and how he works with his subjects to craft a narrative that will later be finished digitally.

Nigel Pooris an artist, educator and co-creator of the acclaimed podcast Ear Hustle; where she explores the daily realities of prison life as well as stories from the outside, post-incarceration. In 2011, she began teaching a history of photography class through the Prison University Project at San Quentin State Prison which quickly took on a new creative life of its own. As neither books nor cameras were allowed into the prison, Nigel took an original approach to the class, conducting inventive mapping exercises which create kind of “verbal photographs”. As the project progressed, Nigel came across thousands of negatives in the prison’s archive, taken by former correction officers. It became a creative fascination for the students, giving those involved with the project a new opportunity to share their stories and reflect on their time in prison. The new bookThe San Quentin Project, captures this.