With a complex multidisciplinary practice, Shikeith (b. 1989; Philadelphia, PA) interrogates the sociopolitical structures and histories that oppress the psychological landscapes of marginalized communities. Influenced by his interest in hauntology and spiritual traditions from the African diaspora, Shikeith's artwork both mines and speculates on methodologies of disentangling and reconciliation. His photographs employ magical realist aesthetics, creating elusive compositions challenging gender norms and asking viewers to engage with the invisible forces that shape their perception of the subjects depicted and self.
Shikeith earned a BA in Integrative Arts from the Pennsylvania State University and an MFA from the Yale School of Art, New Haven, CT. His work is in the permanent collections of 21c Museum, Louisville, KY; Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD; Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA; and the Newark Museum of Art, Newark, NJ among others. Exhibitions include This was his body/ His body finally his (2017), MAK Gallery, London, UK; The Language Must Not Sweat (2019), Locust Projects, Miami, FL; Feeling The Spirit In The Dark (2020), The Mattress Factory Museum of Contemporary Art, Pittsburgh, PA. In 2021, he presented notes towards becoming a spill, a site-specific performance, at the Performa Biennial in New York, NY. He is the recipient of the 2022 Pittsburgh Foundation's Exposure Artist Award in co-fellowship with The Carnegie Museum of Art, 2020 Art Matters Foundation Grant, 2020 Leslie Lohman Museum Artist Fellowship, and 2019 Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters & Sculptors Grant. The artist lives and works in New York, NY.