Vetiver

Vetiver (Vonne Napper) is an interdisciplinary artist, facilitator, printmaker, and land steward. Their practice centers on preserving Black queer and trans narratives, supporting social justice calls of resistance, and emphasizing spiritual and mental wellness. Identifying as nonbinary and trans-masculine, Vetiver pulls from their lived experience to highlight the challenges of existing at a particularly targeted intersection in today’s society and employs their spirituality and relationship with nature to establish connections between the communities to which they belong.

Vetiver was the first artist from the Community Arts MFA program at Maryland Institute College of Art to hold residency at the B&O Railroad Museum, where they developed the first arts-based program, The Roundhouse Connection, for middle school students. Following graduation in 2022, they held their first solo exhibition, Choose Your Gender, at Transformer DC, which centered on gender and identity and their grapples with them. In 2024, they were one of two resident artists in the Joshua Johnson Council x Maryland Institute College of Art x Baltimore Museum of Art Artist-in-Residence program. In addition to exhibiting works throughout Baltimore City, they currently steward Blue Light Junction, a natural dye initiative, as Garden & Studio Manager, where they study the spiritual benefits and interdependence of plants and the cultural significance and heritage of working with natural dyes. As co-founder of Lacy Oasis, a Black-owned recreational land in Owings, MD (Piscataway Territory), they help steward the land with their sister to ensure the legacy of their late grandmother, Julia Lacy, is fulfilled. With printmaking, Vetiver continues to work on a living archive dedicated to preserving Black queer and trans narratives through portraiture and transcribed interviews.