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Tiona Nekkia McClodden

Biography

Tiona Nekkia McClodden is an American interdisciplinary artist, filmmaker, curator, and writer whose work examines Black queer life through the intersections of history, ritual, spirituality, gender, sexuality, and archival practice. Working between Philadelphia and New York, her practice combines film, sculpture, photography, installation, performance, and research to recover histories that have frequently been marginalized or omitted from traditional cultural narratives. Through deeply researched projects, she creates immersive works that challenge conventional understandings of identity, memory, and historical documentation.


McClodden's work has been presented internationally at leading museums and cultural institutions, including the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), the Whitney Museum of American Art, the New Museum, The Shed, and Haus der Kulturen der Welt in Berlin. Her exhibitions draw upon extensive archival investigation, Black cultural history, and personal storytelling to illuminate the experiences of Black queer communities while engaging broader conversations about power, faith, kinship, and belonging.


In 2021, McClodden received a MacArthur Fellowship, recognizing her innovative contributions to contemporary art and her commitment to preserving and interpreting Black queer histories. Through her multidisciplinary practice, curatorial work, filmmaking, and writing, she has become one of the leading contemporary artists advancing new approaches to cultural memory, artistic research, and Black queer representation.

BQW Impact

Tiona Nekkia McClodden has expanded contemporary art by centering Black queer histories that have too often been overlooked or erased. Through rigorous archival research and multidisciplinary artistic practice, she demonstrates how art can serve as a form of historical recovery, cultural preservation, and community remembrance.


As a Black queer artist, filmmaker, and curator, McClodden has created new frameworks for understanding identity, spirituality, and collective memory while influencing museums, scholars, artists, and audiences around the world. Her work continues to strengthen the visibility of Black queer experiences within contemporary art and cultural institutions.

Notable Works

  • The Full Severity of Compassion (2022)

    Interdisciplinary exhibition examining ritual, grief, memory, and Black queer cultural histories through installation, sculpture, film, and archival research.

  • The Trace of an Implied Presence 

    Interdisciplinary exhibition exploring Black memory, spirituality, embodiment, and historical continuity through film, sculpture, and installation.

  • The Brad Johnson Tape, X: On Subjugation 

    Experimental moving-image work exploring power, desire, memory, and Black queer historical narratives through archival and cinematic practice.

  • A MERCY 

    Multimedia work exploring ritual, spirituality, embodiment, and Black queer experience through film and installation.

  • MacArthur Fellowship (2021)

    Awarded the MacArthur Fellowship in recognition of her innovative interdisciplinary artistic practice and contributions to contemporary art.

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