Niki Lopez is an award-winning Afro-Latina, queer interdisciplinary visual artist, curator, and social practitioner. Her work is a bold exploration of identity, healing, and social justice, utilizing vibrant colors, symbolic masks, and mixed-media reliefs to create thought-provoking narratives. Rooted in Afrocentric spirituality and self-discovery, her art invites viewers to confront the unspoken, embrace transformation, and connect with deeper layers of their personal and collective experiences.
As the founder of What’s Your Elephant™, Lopez merges art with activism, creating safe spaces for dialogue around topics such as mental health, discrimination, and resilience. This initiative has become an integral part of her artistic and curatorial practice, bridging creative expression with social impact.
For almost two decades, Lopez has curated impactful exhibitions, community engagments, place-making and public art projects, including Echoes of Empathy: Navigating the Baker Act Through Art, which examined the intersection of youth mental health and social justice. Her curatorial work also includes The Art of Justice and Sankofa Arts Project, both highlighting art as a tool for advocacy and cultural preservation. Through these projects, she fosters critical conversations, amplifies marginalized voices, and uses the arts to drive social change.
Beyond the studio, Lopez has been a dedicated teaching artist for over 14 years, working with youth in juvenile detention centers, children with special needs, and underserved communities. Her commitment to using art as a tool for empowerment extends into her role as a curator and cultural programmer, producing exhibitions and events that amplify marginalized voices and foster community engagement.
Lopez’s work has been exhibited across South Florida, New York, and California, and her impact has been recognized with numerous awards, including the Broward County Arts & Culture Visionaries Award, Our Fund Commitment to a Cause Philanthropy Award, Pioneer of the Year Award presented by BLACC and SPARK, Louis E. Peters Memorial Service Award (Humanitarian Award), and a nomination for the Kennedy Center Citizen Artist Fellow Recognition.
With a passion for pushing artistic boundaries, Lopez continues to explore large-scale works and immersive installations that provoke conversation, inspire self-reflection, and ignite transformation.
What is that (Under her Blue)” by Niki Lopez.
Created for the AIM Biennial 2020 during Art Basel/Miami Art Week- Ephemeral, Public Art Installation.
What is that (Under her Blue), is a ritualistic, site-specific installation in nature to explore some of the traumas concerning Black women within the current climate of the pandemic and racial reckoning as a significant tool in the world. Lopez states “I am a mother, an artist, a healer and a safe space for community engagement, an advocate for human rights and justice.” The installation was be built and documented at Hugh Taylor Birch State Park under a large Banyan tree. The intention of this work is to bring awareness to the inequity and socially underserved in communities of color. “We struggle because of not having what it takes to advance. We struggle in silence because the world needs for us to be strong. This piece will be an attempt to make space for all that is broken within me, within the world, to share it with nature as I share a silent prayer for strength for us all.”
Photo documentation and write up were published in the AIM Biennial 2020 Art Book. Click here for link.
Caressed
Mixed Media Video Installation
Niki Lopez
A self-portrait, mixed-media video installation combining performance art and a poem I wrote about a traumatic childhood memory. This intimate piece is the second installation in my elephant series and is connected to the project ‘What’s Your Elephant’ – Creative Conversations about the Unspoken.
The intentions behind this work are to not only share a personal elephant but to have discussions surrounding unspoken topics such as abuse, survivors of abuse, awareness, the power of a ‘share’ and how the arts can be used to heal, to empower and to educate.
My intention for #whatsyourelephant is to create a safe space where can share & bring awareness. If sharing my elephants empowers even one person to consider their choices & their impact, speak up when they see an injustice, or be a voice for the many who are still living in fear & denial- my job is done.
Caressed is a mixed-media video that debuted as a site-specific installation during the opening of the third “What’s Your Elephant’ art exhibit at the 1310 Gallery – Sailboat Bend Artists Lofts.
Special thanks to: the 1310 Bandits filmmakers team for assisting with the creation of this video
‘What’s Your Elephant™’ is a movement that uses the arts to create a safe space to address the unspoken. It includes art exhibits, talks, interactive installations and workshops. Centering art as a tool for healing, community building and promoting mental health and irradicating the stigmas connected to mental health.
Using interactive arts to provoke awareness and facilitate discussions unveiling unaddressed topics including, but not limited to; gender, LGBTQ issues, discrimination, social and racial justice , abuse and traumas.
WYE works with the public, at-risk groups and communities.