”
MoNA IS
ON A REAL
MISSION
TO ELEVATE
OVERLOOKED
ART FORMS.
“
OUR STORY COMES WITH
REC🧾PTS
The MUSEUM OF NAIL ART examines Radical Black Beauty through pop culture because pop culture is one of the many places where Black women’s influence is longer than a CVS receipt.
What began as a passion project is becoming an institution built to gather that influence as evidence, honor its OGs & make it part of permanent record.
BEAUTY RITUALS
ADORN US.
Then there
are those that DOCUMENT US.
MoNA is Both + More:
-
Nail art is one of the highest forms of Black women’s creative expression.
It’s innovation, imagination & joy, made wearable.
The Museum of Nail Art gives that expression room to be experienced at the scale of fine art.
-
At the Museum of Nail Art, we place nail art in conversation with the pop culture it shapes, keeping its artists,references & origins in full view.
-
For generations, Black women have long been the reference.
The Museum of Nail Art makes sure that influence is part of the record. Exactly where it belongs.
-
WHEN THEY CATCH ON.
BLACK WOMEN MOVE ON.
THEY REPEAT. WE REINVENT.
THEY FOLLOW TRENDS.
WE SET THEM.
CREATED NOW.
COPIED LATER.
CREDITED BARELY EVER.
BLACK WOMEN ARE THE SOURCE.
OF WHAT’S NEXT, WHAT LASTS.
WHAT THE WORLD WILL CALL NEW.
OFTEN IMITATED.
BUT NEVER INTIMIDATED.
BECAUSE BEFORE IT TRENDS…
IT’S US.
For the Record,
The Museum of Nail Art.
LIGHTS.
📹
CAMERA.
🍿
ACT UP.
📼
CAMERA.
🍿
LIGHTS. 📹 CAMERA. 🍿 ACT UP. 📼 CAMERA. 🍿
PREVIOUSLY
@ the MoNA
Past exhibits, moments &
collaborations from the
MUSEUM OF NAIL ART
EXHIBIT
Always Be
My Mani
MoNA MUSE
Mariah Carey (1999)
COLLECTION #: 2025.083
COLLABORATION WITH
Grind Pretty Magazine
PHOTOGRAPHER:
Danita Bethea
PROJECT
Nailed It: The Evolution of an It Girl
CHAPTER
Maiya the Don (2025)
POP
THE TRUNK
BTS @ MoNA
The final shot is only part of the story.
Explore the campaigns, collaborators & behind-the-scenes moments that bring MoNA’s world to life.
THE FOUNDER
🧿
THE FOUNDER 🧿
“
I didn’t build MoNA to make nail art worthy
of a museum.
I built it because
Black nail art
has always been
worthy of one.
“
DIAL UP
💌
SIGN UP
📧
DIAL UP 💌 SIGN UP 📧
🖼️ SOON TO BE ON VIEW 🖼️ UPCOMING EXHIBITS
🖼️ SOON TO BE ON VIEW 🖼️ UPCOMING EXHIBITS
RADICAL
BLACK
BEAUTY:
FOR THE
L🩷VE OF
TUPAC
A Love Letter from Tupac Shakur to Black Women—Told Through Nail Art.
For what would have been revolutionary rapper & lyricist Tupac Shakur’s 55th year, the Museum of Nail Art's upcoming exhibit is set to follow the places that shaped him.
Four cities.
Four chapters.
One love letter in four parts.
⬇️ ⬇️ ⬇️ ⬇️ ⬇️ ⬇️ ⬇️ ⬇️ ⬇️ ⬇️ ⬇️
Exhibition No. RBB.26.01
🖼️
Exhibition No. RBB.26.01
🖼️
Exhibition No. RBB.26.01 🖼️ Exhibition No. RBB.26.01 🖼️
DEAR MAMA:
THE GENESIS
Public Opening Ceremony | NYC
Born in Harlem to activist
Afeni Shakur, Tupac’s first inheritance was a Black
woman’s radical love.
NYC opens our exhibition through
motherhood, revolution & the women who made his beginning possible.
ARTIST
BEFORE
ICON
A Ceremony of Becoming | Baltimore
In Baltimore, Tupac studied acting, poetry, jazz & ballet: learning to move between disciplines before the world knew his name.
MoNA honors the city that gave his sensitivity structure & his creative range room to grow.
ALL
EYEZ
ON HER
Sunset Ceremony | LA
Los Angeles is where Tupac became impossible to look away from.
At sunset, we’re marking
30 years of All Eyez on Me and The 7 Day Theory by turning the gaze toward the Black women his music loved, defended & exalted.
KEEP YA
HEAD UP
Closing Ceremony | Oakland
Before the world knew 2Pac,
the Bay Area, his adopted home,
helped craft his political voice
& launch his recording career.
Oakland closes out our tour where artistry became advocacy, honoring the voice that reminded Black women to keep their heads up.
WITNESS IT
IN PERSON:
FOR THE LOVE
OF 2PAC
Tour Dates Dropping Soon.
Join our first access VIP list for exhibition dates, city announcements, special previews & programming.
📰
Press-Ons
💅
Press
📰 Press-Ons 💅 Press
MoNA puts
the culture, creativity & confidence of Radical Black Beauty on full display.
FEATURED BY JAMILA MUSTAFA
MTV Host & On-Air Journalist
H🔥T 🔥FF THE PRESSES 🧯💦
H🔥T 🔥FF THE PRESSES 🧯💦
NAIL’D IT.
NOW READ IT.
Our Founder & Artistic Director, Courtney-Grace Richardson, takes the cover of Grind Pretty Magazine’s Summer 2025 issue,
Nail’d It: The Evolution of an It Girl.
Go behind the cover & into a celebration of the women shaping beauty, creativity & culture.