Nari Ward (b. 1963, St. Andrew, Jamaica; lives and works in New York, New York) is known for his sculptural installations composed of discarded material found and collected in his neighborhood. He has repurposed objects such as baby strollers, shopping carts, bottles, doors, television sets, cash registers and shoelaces, among other materials. Ward re-contextualizes these found objects in thought-provoking juxtapositions that create complex, metaphorical meanings to confront social and political issues surrounding race, poverty, and consumer culture. He intentionally leaves the meaning of his work open, allowing the viewer to provide his or her own interpretation.

Nari Ward received a BA from City University of New York, Hunter College in 1989, and an MFA from City University of New York, Brooklyn College in 1992. Selected solo exhibitions of his work  include Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, Massachusetts (2017); Socrates Sculpture Park, New York, New York (2017); The Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (2016); Pérez Art Museum, Miami, Florida (2015); Savannah College of Art and Design Museum of Art, Savannah, Georgia (2015); Louisiana State University Museum of Art, Baton Rouge, Louisiana (2014); The Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (2011); Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, North Adams, Massachusetts (2011); Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, Massachusetts (2002); and Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota (2001, 2000). Select group exhibitions featuring his work include Objects Like Us, The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, Connecticut (forthcoming, 2018–2019); UPTOWN: nastywomen/badhombres, El Museo del Barrio, New York, New York (2017); Black: Color, Material, Concept, The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, New York (2015); The Great Mother, the Fondazione Nicola Trussardi, Palazzo Reale, Milan, Italy (2015); The Freedom Principle: Experiments in Art and Music, 1965 to Now, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Illinois (2015); NYC 1993: Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star, New Museum, New York, New York (2013); Contemplating the Void: Interventions in the Guggenheim Rotunda, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, New York (2010); 2006 Biennial Exhibition, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York (2006); Landings, Documenta XI, Kassel, Germany (2002); Passages: Contemporary Art in Transition, The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, New York; Projects: How to Build and Maintain the Virgin Fertility of Our Soul, MoMA PS1, Long Island City, New York; The Listening Sky, Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, New York; 1995 Biennial Exhibition, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York (1995); and Cardinal Points of the Arts, 45^th Venice Biennale, Italy.

Ward’s work is in numerous international public and private collections, including Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York; Baltimore Museum of Art, Maryland; the Blanton Museum of Art, Austin, Texas; the Brooklyn Museum, New York, New York; Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas; GAM, Galleria Civica di arte, Torino, Italy; the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, Massachusetts; Istanbul Modern, Istanbul, Turkey; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, California; Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, Luxembourg; the Museum of Modern Art, New York, New York; the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina; National Gallery of Victoria, Southbank, Australia; the New York Public Library, New York, New York; Pérez Art Museum Miami, Florida; Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.; Speed Art Museum, Louisville, Kentucky; the Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, New York; the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minneapolis; and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York.

Ward has received numerous honors and distinctions including the Vilcek Prize in Fine Arts, Vilcek Foundation, New York (2017); the Joyce Award, The Joyce Foundation, Chicago (2015), the Rome Prize, American Academy of Rome (2012), and awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters (1998), the Pollock-Krasner Foundation (1996); and the National Endowment for the Arts (1994). Ward has also received commissions from the United Nations and the World Health Organization.