Artist Nevaeh Ryals

Nevaeh Ryals is from Montgomery County, PA and is a painter who works in acrylic, oil, and mixed-media. She received her BFA Degree from the University of the Arts. She has exhibited in the UArts 2024 Fine Arts Thesis Show, showcasing her Black figural paintings in the IceBox Project Space and her mural on Broad Street in front of the University of the Arts. Her works allow the audience to peel away the layers of gentrification in Philadelphia, and reveal the Black culture that laid the foundation of what Philadelphia is today. She is a 2024 recipient of the Victoria McCallum’s BIPOC Painter Award and Ernest W. Greenfield Annual Memorial Award in Painting. Her current artwork revolves around the untamed memories Black figures hold in the urban areas of Philadelphia and how those memories help reveal the truth of the city’s identity to those who believe in the gentrification movement happening now. By presenting the existence of lost buildings and homes in the Black communities, Nevaeh hopes to bring cultural knowledge to the new Black generation with her work. To allow them to see the history that was surrounding their homes before the act of neglection, and destruction took place.