Nik Rye is an artist at our very own university making change for the houseless in Tallahassee. We conducted an exclusive interview to find the inspiration for their work and what it’s like working so closely in response to city politics and creating meaningful connections with houseless people. They have a unique experience giving them a revealing perspective that they shared with us below! We at Her Campus love this story that started with a goal of helping basic needs and turned into meeting much deeper needs of the people in our city.
Her Campus (HC): I have gathered that you are a grad student at Florida State University (FSU), is that correct? Was your undergrad also here?
Nik Rye (NR): Yes, I am an MFA Candidate and Fellow in the Fine Arts department anticipating graduation in Spring 2023. I finished my BA in Studio Art with a focus on Ceramics and Printmaking at FSU in Spring 2020 at the start of the pandemic. However, I did not have a traditional undergraduate experience. I started my BA at the University of Central Florida in 2008 in Journalism. After experiencing several hardships, I found myself without my scholarship or home by 2010. I returned to college in 2013 at Broward College and received an AA in less than a year and paid out of pocket while staying at a friend’s house and working as a bartender.
In 2014, I was arrested for feeding the houseless in Fort Lauderdale. My case was open for three years, which caused my applications to universities to be denied. I went back to Broward College in 2016 while my case was still open, receiving an AS in Graphic Design after two years. I worked as a graphic designer at a few South Florida companies, including Radical Jack Press, a grassroots print shop owned and operated by the late Jack Lieberman, an FSU alum and prominent activist who taught “How to make a revolution in the USA” with the Center for Participant Education on campus in the 1960s and was expelled. I came to Florida State University in 2018.
HC: I would love if you could describe some of your recent or favorite works of yours.
NR: I am currently working on The Tallahassee Project which is a series of participatory and activist artworks. It started with Things the Police Have Said to Me (2019), in which I placed porcelain bowls covered in black text quoting cops, such as “There’s No Honor Code Among Criminals” and “Thieves or Squat Your Legs and Cough” into areas of Tallahassee that felt familiar to my houseless experience.
At the start of the pandemic (March 2020), I founded Tally Community Aid, a mutual aid organization and art experiment dedicated to providing water, food, birth control, harm reduction and educational material to the city. In February 2021, I completed the performance, 7 Days a Diamond, and followed it up with an archival exhibition and live reading in March 2021.
Most recently, Keith Stafford Was Murdered was a social sculpture that used a collaboratively constructed memorial referencing the bus stop (and Keith’s only source of public shelter) that was removed from the corner of Gaines and Railroad in order to build community. On the night of its installation, several houseless individuals and locals shared a meal, lit candles for Keith and shared stories about him and themselves. After 25 days, the City of Tallahassee destroyed the artwork and returned the original bus stop showcasing their responsibility in Keith’s murder.
HC: Why did you create this?
NR: The Tallahassee Project (2019-present) is a way for me to unravel my own life, subjecting it to the scrutiny of the public, while simultaneously bringing awareness to the houseless experience humanizing it through an activist lens. Moreover, the series of works is intended to engage individuals in empathy with the goal of creating community. Human connection is an antidote to capitalist alienation and a path to fundamental cultural change.
HC: Do you have any on display around town?
NR: Keith Stafford Was Murdered (2021) was the most recent to be in the public eye that included a physical object. I also had two physical pieces, Whiteboxes and an artbook of instructional scores humorously depicting houselessness and activism called Spare Change: Anything Helps, exhibited in 621 Gallery in the past month.
Importantly, the nature of my work is highly conceptual and focused on sharing the human experience, connection and dialogue. Tally Community Aid members and I can often be found around town speaking with different folks and genuinely engaging while also supplying them with things they need. Keith Stafford Was Murdered was more than a DIY memorial. The real art found itself in the antagonized city government and their resulting actions, the acceptance and solidarity of Tallahassee citizens and the multiple houseless individuals who felt safe and listened to.
HC: Can you tell me a little bit more about Tally Community Aid? Do you have any events coming up, or other ways students could get involved?
NR: I founded Tally Community Aid in March 2020 at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic as a direct response to the closure of shelters, food pantries, restaurants (and their restrooms) and public water fountains. Understanding the plight of the houseless experience and the impact these closures would have on the houseless people in Tallahassee, I initially intended to bring care packs to people on the street from my car for just two weeks. Soon after, an immense amount of support and donations flowed in as well as multiple volunteers. When the George Floyd uprisings started, we also distributed food and water to the frontlines of the actions to keep the demonstrators from becoming too dehydrated or weary. We have existed for over a year now, slowly evolving and adapting to the needs of the Tallahassee community.
We will be hosting a fundraiser punk show soon to house Anne, a local houseless woman, before winter. We will also be starting an open monthly meeting with dates to be determined soon. Fellow students are welcome to follow @tallycommunityaid on Instagram in anticipation of these events (and @nikrye on Instagram).
Want to see more HCFSU? Be sure to like us on Facebook and follow us on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, YouTube and Pinterest!