“Sometimes, I feel like I am going to war when I pick up a camera, like there’s an urgency in the logic behind my envisioning of a malleable Black manhood.”
- Name: Shikeith
- Born: 1989
- From: Philadelphia, PA
- Pronouns: He/him
- Contribution/Impact: Shikeith explores the experiences and metamorphoses of Black men within a society that denies them their own reconciliatory potential. He examines how self-making is complicated by and related to the fantastic and concepts of psychic space. With his artwork, Shikeith aims to move beyond a focus on bodies into psychic space where identity is formed and Black masculinity can be a malleable, unfixed space.
- Occupation: Artist, Photographer, Film Maker
- Known For: The Language Must Not Sweat (2019), still waters run deep (2021), The Black Boy and The Tree (2016)
- Awards: The Afro-American Cultural Center Award For Excellence In The Arts from Yale University (2017), The Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters & Sculptors Grant (2019), and the Leslie Lohman Artist Fellowship (2020)’
- Interesting Facts: Shikeith has a background in music as well, planning to be a vocalist when he was young and singing in a gospel choir in undergrad.
Born in Philadelphia, Shikeith received his BFA in Photography from Penn State University and an MFA in Sculpture from the Yale School of Art. He is an interdisciplinary artist creating films, sculptures, photography, and installations. Prior to being a working fine artist, he worked as a fashion photographer for publications such as Teen Vogue and Vogue China. Shikeith first became Pittsburgh-based for a residency at Bunker Projects (2014-2018). Shikeith now teaches alongside his artistic work as an adjunct professor at Carnegie Mellon University.
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