Billboard Gallery: August 2022

The Holland Project’s Billboard Gallery showcases the work of exceptional emerging and established regional artists on billboards throughout Reno’s surface streets. Three new artists are installed every four weeks starting in 2022. The August artists included M Jiang, Natalia Jimenez, and Jordyn Owens.

AUGUST 2022 ARTISTS + WORKS

Location #1: Wells Avenue & Pueblo Street

Artist: M Jiang
Artwork: I dream of dreams of fire, colored pencil, 2022
Website | Instagram

Bio: M Jiang is an interdisciplinary artist born and raised in Reno, NV. They received their BFA in Film/Animation/Video at the Rhode Island School of Design, and their artistic practice involves illustration, animation & filmmaking, music, and tattooing. Their work often ventures into the absurd and surreal, where they explore themes of home/diaspora, body/dysphoria, and collective memory/history. Growing up in Reno, they were heavily inspired by the DIY arts community surrounding the Holland Project. The DIY sensibility remains foundational in their practice, establishing a focus on collaboration, transgression, and resourcefulness.

Statement: In the angel’s eyes I see the wreckage of “progress” piling higher and higher, behind me there is an advertisement for bluetooth fire extinguishers and new leasing condos by the pit that used to be a house.

Location #2: Vassar Street & Wells Avenue

Artist: Natalia Jimenez
Artwork: Old Maid, archival pigment print, 2021
Website | Instagram

Bio: Natalia Jimenez is a visual artist from Reno, Nevada, specializing in photography and graphic design. She graduated from the University of Nevada, Reno with a Bachelor’s Degree in Studio Art. Her work explores ideas such as personal identity and self-expression, with a specific emphasis on the LGBTQ+ community.

Statement: Old Maid explores the relationship between my sexuality and personal expression, portrayed through how I dress and present myself. I have only identified as asexual for a few years but I can already see the impact it has had on how I see myself and how I present myself to others.

This project also explores asexuality as a community. Throughout this series I highlight some of the important symbols of asexuality to increase awareness and also show how they hold personal importance to myself. This is demonstrated through the use of the color purple, the ace ring, and the ace of hearts playing card.

The title Old Maid references a card game of the same name in which cards are matched with each other until there is one, single remaining card left: The Old Maid. Many people think that a life without sex is a lonely and loveless one. These photographs communicate that being asexual is not something that should be thought of as grim or taboo, but instead a sexual identity that involves self-acceptance, independence, and an unconventional kind of love.

Location #3: Virginia Street & Taylor Street

Artist: Jordyn Owens
Artwork: Ferocity, digital photograph, 2022
Website | Instagram

Bio: Jordyn Owens is a photographer born and raised in Reno, Nevada, where she currently resides. She is currently working towards her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at the University of Nevada, Reno, and will be graduating in Spring 2022. Owen’s work examines Black culture in a deeper context. By photographing this marginalized group, she expresses not only her voice but also the voice of her community. Her photographs explore the emotional history rooted in the African American diaspora. Through these portraits, she is highlighting emotions such as joy, hopelessness, fear, sadness, and more in hopes to rectify the fact that African Americans have been erased and omitted from history.

Statement: This summer, I had the privilege of reading The Autobiography of Malcolm X. During the time of Malcolm’s life, racism, injustice, and discrimination plagued America. Malcolm often perceived the world around him as a malignant place that disregarded human rights. He stated: “Anger can blind the human vision.” Although America has made progressive changes since the teachings of Malcolm X, I believe anger continues to blind the eyes of many Americans today.


The 2022-23 HP Billboard Gallery series is supported by an Arts Belongs Here grant from the City of Reno Arts & Culture Commission and the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as generous donations from generous donations from supporters like Temple Builders LLC, Brooks Family Dental, and Sierra Hearing Center.