Meet Daina Higgins, a painter whose work moves between the overlooked corners of the urban landscape and the intimate spaces of personal and family memory. Rooted in her early years as a graffiti artist, Higgins brings a deep attunement to …
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Daina Higgins
Philadelphia, PA
Painting
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Biography
Daina Higgins is a multi-media painter whose work is deeply informed by her background in graffiti. Working across oil, acrylic, gouache, watercolor, and spray paint, she explores light, documentation, and memory. Her recent work explores themes of family lore and personal history.
Since 2005, she has presented sixteen solo exhibitions, with recent shows in New York and Columbus. In 2025, Contemporary Art Matters published Growing Up Graffiti, featuring an essay by Jonathan Stevenson. Her work has appeared in publications including The New York Times, ArtNews, and The Brooklyn Rail, and was notably reviewed by Roberta Smith. Higgins is the recipient of several awards, including the Joan Mitchell Foundation MFA Grant. Her work is held in public collections, including the Columbus Museum of Art, and she lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.
Haystack Perspective
Higgins depicts built environments with special consideration for the diffusion of natural and artificial light across windshields, parking lots, and storefronts. The artist spent years in New York City honing her painting skills and exhibiting her work while exploring the rich world of graffiti there. Daina has a keen eye for the unheralded, lonely spots that are ubiquitous around the city. It is often those spots that seem abandoned, scrawled on densely with graffiti and littered with trash. These secret spots can be beautiful, though they are often unobserved before she paints them.
From the Artist
“My work stems from my youth spent as a graffiti artist. From there I developed an interest in the built environment and the marks that humans leave behind. I also developed a love of photography and recording visual experiences that I then turn into paintings.”
Recent Exhibitions
LeakeStreetGalleries.Art
Her City
Virtual
2023
Contemporary Art Matters
Columbus, OH
2021
Chromedge Gallery
Columbus, OH
2018