Black History Month: Shikeith
Shikeith. O' my body, make of me always a man who questions!, 2020. Archival Inkjet Print on Canson Infinity Plantine. © Shikeith. Courtesy of the Artist and Yossi Milo Gallery, New York.
Written by Sophie Mulgrew
Photo Edited by Haley Winchell
At just over thirty years old, Pittsburgh-based multimedia artist Shikeith has already made quite a name for himself in the contemporary art world. Shikeith’s work addresses the complex experience of queer Black men in America and attempts to center and redefine their narratives. To this end, the artist’s photographic work is particularly effective. Rendered in muted tones of blue and black, Shekeiths images have an almost surreal quality. They are otherworldly and effeminate, ethereal and sinister. Shekeith takes particular interest in the male body and its position within structures - the literal framing of the photograph, as well as the contextual framing of a white-centric, racist society.
Shikeith, Now I lay me down to sleep, 2020. Found Photographs, Archival Pigment Prints on Canson Infinity Platine. © Shikeith. Courtesy of the Artist and Yossi Milo Gallery, New York.
Shikeith, The Adoration (never knew love like this before), 2020. Archival Inkjet Print on Canson Infinity Platine. © Shikeith. Courtesy of the Artist and Yossi Milo Gallery, New York.
One of Shikeith’s signatures is the use of blue in his photographic work. Most of his images contain little or no color, other than the skin-tone of his subjects, and blue accents or shading. Shikeith refers to this pairing as the “blue space of blackness”; a color born of communities’ relationships to water, Blues music, and spiritual blues of the African Diaspora. Shikeith’s work reclaims both the Black narrative, and the blue one – shifting the color away from its associations with sadness to something instead full of spirit and hope.
Shikeith’s practice is a reminder that art, at its best, is both personal and political. He creates intimate portraits and stories, while working to reframe long-standing narratives of oppression. Shikeith uses compositional and technical tools to aid his storytelling practice without sacrificing the innate beauty of his work. In fact, perhaps it is the sentiments behind the work that makes them beautiful to begin with.
Shikeith, don’t weep, don’t you mourn, 2022. Archival Inkjet Print on Photo Rag Baryta Paper. © Shikeith. Courtesy of the Artist and Yossi Milo Gallery, New York.
