NMWA Artist Talk: The Work Against the World
The National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA) is presenting Artist Talk: The Work Against the World, a conversation featuring two DC-based Afrodescendant women artists, Zsudayka Nzinga Terrell and Maria-Lana Queen, on Wednesday, September 23. Nzinga Terrell and Queen, whose distinct practices span collage, mixed-media painting, and more, will discuss what it takes to build a career in an art world that rarely centers them, even as they produce work with national and international reach. Pulitzer Prize-winning critic Robin Givhan moderates this conversation, which goes beyond biography to examine what it means to be identified as a Black women artist; how these artists navigate audiences, markets, and political moments; and what the path to a lasting career actually looks like.
The talk is presented in partnership with the Darryl Chappell Foundation, a Washington, D.C., public charity dedicated to empowering Afrodescendant artists to build sustainable careers through community, mentorship, and market access. A reception follows at Eaton DC (1201 K Street NW) to celebrate the Darryl Chappell Foundation’s seventh anniversary.
About the Artists
Zsudayka Nzinga Terrell is an interdisciplinary artist, curator, and educator based in Washington, DC, who creates collaged paintings and art installations examining Black culture and American history. She received an MFA in painting from the Maryland Institute College of Art. Her work has been featured at the Phillips Collection (Washington, D.C.), Banneker-Douglass-Tubman Museum (Annapolis, MD), National Liberty Museum (Philadelphia), the US Embassy in Côte d’Ivoire, SCOPE Art Fair (Miami), and more.
Maria-Lana Queen is a self-taught Washington, D.C.-based abstract and mixed-media artist, painting multi-faceted emotions deeply rooted in African American history and culture, advocacy, faith, relationships, grief, and love. Her artistic journey spans more than 25 years. Her work has been exhibited at the 2024 Venice Biennale (Italy), 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair (New York City), SCOPE Art Fair (Miami), Rice University (Houston), the US Embassy in Jamaica, and the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, among others.
About the Moderator
Robin Givhan is a Pulitzer Prize-winning fashion critic and former Washington Post senior critic-at-large. She now contributes opinion essays to the New York Times on fashion, culture, politics, and race. Givhan is the author of books including The Battle of Versailles: The Night American Fashion Stumbled into the Spotlight and Made History (Flatiron Books, 2016) and Make it Ours: Crashing the Gate of Culture with Virgil Abloh (Crown, 2025). She offers incisive perspectives on art and identity. In 2024, she received the Rabkin Prize for arts writing.
About The Darryl Chappell Foundation
This talk is presented in partnership with the Darryl Chappell Foundation, a Washington, D.C., public charity dedicated to empowering Afrodescendant artists to build sustainable careers through community, mentorship, and market access.
What:
Artist Talk: The Work Against the World
When:
Wednesday, September 23, 2026
6:30–7:30 p.m.
Where:
National Museum of Women in the Arts
1250 New York Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20005
Tickets and Reservations:
Free. Registration required.
For the artist’s talk: https://nmwa.org/whats-on/
For the post event reception: https://pp.events/