“The Beautyful Ones” Series #5 2016

Curator: Njideka Akunyili Crosby created this powerful portrait, part of her "The Beautyful Ones" series, in 2016, utilizing oil paint. My first thought is how directly she confronts you with her gaze. It’s unwavering. Editor: I agree. The portrait is certainly arresting, yet also strangely unsettling given how fragmented the materials are, and how that contrasts with the straightforward gaze of the girl. Curator: Indeed. The text on the chalkboard behind her – “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog” – a classic pangram, takes on an almost sinister feel in contrast with her bright dress. Juxtapose that with the bright fabric patterns collaged around her image and one begins to feel a tension in the subject between identity and expectation, education and opportunity, her interior world against its environment. Editor: The social context here is very rich and contradictory. I’m also fascinated by these printed elements. They seem intentionally destabilizing, these disruptions layered and built up until her environment becomes almost a facade built around this young woman. Note also how this girl is made up with small details but the printed materials appear faded with age. There's the suggestion that she's aware of this visual tension, and in response offers a confident gaze towards the viewer. Curator: Yes! I wonder about those particular motifs. Are they about heritage? Hope? Something else entirely? Akunyili Crosby is known for layering personal history and broader cultural narratives. Those repeating images, combined with text about icons like Professor Dora Akunyili of Nigeria – our icons of hope move on – creates a fascinating conversation about aspiration. Editor: The choice of materials underscores that, certainly. The combination of oil paint with those printed ephemera gives the piece a lived-in, almost tactile quality. We should keep in mind the scale. It’s big, almost life-sized. So she’s right there with you. Curator: Definitely. This work reminds me how art can become a vessel, containing not only individual stories but collective hopes and anxieties, all presented through such deliberate iconographic layering. Editor: I agree. The more I consider Crosby's work here, I become impressed with the material richness and how it speaks so elegantly of memory and process.