Nathan Cordova is a multidisciplinary artist who works primarily with photography, video, sound, sculpture and performance. He received his BA in Journalism from the University of Oregon (‘07) and is currently an MFA Candidate and GTA in the Photography, Video and Imaging area at the University of Arizona’s College of Fine Arts (‘24). Nathan has received grants and scholarships such as the Medici Scholar Award, Helen Gross Award and GPSC Travel Grant as well as a fully-funded residency at Anderson Ranch Arts Center. He’s independently published four artist books and his commissioned work has appeared in WIRED. Nathan’s current project, Ghosts and Shadows, is an audio/video artwork that aims to uncover a common auditory and visual language between humans and the US/Mexico Border as immaterial/material-entity. He is a member of Southwest Photo Collaborative, whose group show, Land, Body & Archive, will visit the cities of Tempe, Albuquerque and Tucson in 2023-2024.
Group Shows
2023 Land, Body & Archive, John Sommers Gallery, Albuquerque, NM.
2023 Land, Body & Archive, Step Gallery, Phoenix, AZ.
2023 Art Research in the Unruly World: Questions, Forms & Methods, Palo Verde Gallery, Tucson, AZ.
2023 Shaping Conduits, Palo Verde Gallery, Tucson, AZ.
2023 Paradise Is Trouble, The Loft Cinema, Tucson, AZ.
2022 A Practice of Doubt, University of Arizona Graduate Gallery, Tucson, AZ.
2021 Review Santa Fe, Center Santa Fe, Santa Fe, NM
2021 SF Camerawork 2021 Benefit Auction: The Roof is on Fire, SF Camerawork, San Francisco, CA
2019 Forecast 2019: SF Camerawork’s Annual Survey Exhibition, San Francisco Camerawork, SF, CA
2019 Storytelling Through the Lens, Chicano Humanities Arts Council Gallery, Denver, CO
2017 SF Camerawork 2017 Benefit Auction, SF Camerawork, San Francisco, CA
2016 Our World Portfolio Review, project admission, Photo Alliance, San Francisco, CA
2016 9th Annual International Plastic Camera Show, Rayko Photo Center, San Francisco CA
2015 Color Photography: A Picture Show, Black Box Gallery, Portland, OR
2015 Focus: Grayscale, Black Box Gallery, Portland, OR
2015 Plastic Fantastic IV, Lightbox Photographic Gallery, Astoria, OR, Juror’s Choice Award
Solo Shows
2020 One Man’s Body Family Album, Berkeley Salon Show, Berkeley, CA
2018 One Man’s Body and Vicinity, Walden House Salon Show, Oakland, CA
2017 One Man’s Body, Richmond Salon Show, Portland, OR
2017 One Man’s Body, Walden House Salon Show, Oakland, CA
2014 Kelley Point Park, Conejos County Library, La Jara, CO
Grants and Scholarships
2023 Melon-Fronteridades Fellowship, Confluencenter For Creative Inquiry, Tucson, AZ.
2023 Helen Gross Award, University of Arizona School of Art, Tucson, AZ
2022 Full Tuition, Room and Board Summer Workshop Scholarship, Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Snowmass Village, CO.
2022 Graduate & Professional Student Council Travel Grant Recipient, University of Arizona GPSC, Tucson, AZ.
2022 Medici Scholar Award, University of Arizona College of Fine Arts, Tucson, AZ.
Lectures and Artist Talks
2022 University of Arizona School of Art, Untrue Narratives. Tucson, AZ.
2022 Southwest Photo Collaborative. Online Talk.
Publications
2023 “The Racket Journal”, Vol. 5, Issue 78. The Racket Reading Series. San Francisco, CA.
Books and Zines
Cordova, Nathan. I Want To Leave So Much Behind. Berkeley, CA: Self-Published, 2021. Limited-Edition Artist Book. 24 pages, 10 original B&W photographs, pen on paper.
Cordova, Nathan. One Man’s Body Family Album. Berkeley, CA: Self-Published, 2020. Limited-Edition Artist Book. 32 pages, 23 original B&W photographs, 4 archival maps, pen on paper.
Cordova, Nathan. One Man’s Body and Vicinity. Oakland, CA: Self-Published, 2018. Limited-Edition Art Object. 7 original B&W photographs, archival maps, pen on paper.
Cordova, Nathan. One Man’s Body. Oakland, CA: Self-Published, 2017. Limited-Edition Zine. 20 pages containing 14 original B&W photographs.
Commissions
Elizabeth Eaves. (October 1, 2020). The Pandemic Closed Borders—and Stirred a Longing for Home. WIRED. Retrieved from https://www.wired.com/story/the-pandemic-closed-borders-and-stirred-a-longing-for-home/
Teaching
2022-Present University of Arizona, ART 100C: Gaze, Primary Instructor, Tucson, AZ.
2022 University of Arizona, ART 244: Introduction To Photographic Practices and Visual Thinking, Graduate Teaching Assistant, Tucson, AZ.
2021 University of Arizona, ART 242: Introduction To Photographic Concept, Graduate Teaching Assistant, Tucson, AZ.
2021 Design Tech High School, April Intersession Instructor, “Zine Making for the Visual Artist”, Redwood City, CA.
2017-2020 First Exposures, Part-time Mentor for Digital Photography and B&W Darkroom, San Francisco, CA.
Education
2021-Present MFA Photo, Video and Imaging (candidate), University of Arizona School of Art, Tucson, AZ.
2017-2019 McNair Evans, One-on-one Directed Study, San Francisco, CA
2014-2016 Kirsten Rian, One-on-one Directed Study, Portland, OR
2011-2013 Lauren Henkin & Kirsten Rian, Directed Group Study, Portland, OR
2007 B.A. Journalism, Focus in Photojournalism, University of Oregon School of Journalism, Eugene, OR