BIO
Nick Azzaro uses sculpture, installation, photography, and performance to challenge the systemic failures in the public education system while simultaneously working to empower future artists through collaborations in the classroom and community. He places great value in accessibility, both in materials and audience, which is why he often works with simple materials like those found in under-resourced public school art programs.
He utilizes his extensive commercial photography experience to create stand-alone visual statements, often responding to social and political matters, as well as multi-photo sequential works. As a former high school educator, he believes that equitable, inclusive, and accessible facilitation means meeting every student where they are, hearing them, and creating a space or spaces where learning, collaborating, and creating are possible.
Based in Ypsilanti, Michigan, Azzaro worked for the public school system at some level from 2013 to 2020. From 2017 until the lockdowns of COVID-19, he taught visual literacy through a remarkable photography program at Ypsilanti Community High School, where his students created charged, intentional imagery based on their own experiences.