Nia Hampton’s Drapetomania: A Strong Urge To Escape April 13th–May 26th
Waller Gallery is pleased to present its first show and Nia Hampton’s first solo exhibition. The exhibition is an expansive documentation of the artist’s photography within Afro-Latino communities.

Drapetomania was once a medical diagnosis used to explain why enslaved Africans ran away from the plantation. This was a racist and fabricated diagnosis of the human imperative to flee servitude. In her first solo exhibition, Nia Hampton shows the results of her own bout of “drapetomania” after graduating college and moving to Brazil. She captured the following on her journey through South America: environmental racism, African spiritual practices, femicide, black Brazilian feminism, haircut culture, and love.

Nia Hampton is a writer, filmmaker, photographer, teacher, and producer born and raised in Baltimore. Her videography and production has been featured in Al Jazeera America and film festivals in Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Johannesburg. Her written work has been featured in Vice, VillageVoice.com, City Paper, Dazed Digital, AFROPUNK, True Laurels, Genius.com, Paste Magazine, Griots Republic and Hysteria Zine.