New Year VIII Collage

Kara Mshinda is an abstract artist with roots in photography and collage art who contributes to current visual dialogues that shape diverse and changing meanings of otherness and art. Mshinda uses accessible methods like freehand drawing, collage, and lo-fi photography to develop visual narratives. Her interest in using such methods arises from her anthropological curiosity about the “life cycle” of disposable materials and print media. Born and raised in Ohio, Mshinda graduated from The University of Akron with a degree in Interdisciplinary Anthropology. She later relocated to Philadelphia to pursue her Master of Arts in the Anthropology of Visual Communication program at Temple University. Her graduate work focused on the visual language socialization of a community of graffiti writers in Philadelphia. In addition to creating artwork, Mshinda is a professor at Temple University where she teaches on the themes of race, identity, and artistic practice.