Nkem 2012

Njideka Akunyili Crosby made *Nkem* with mixed media, collage, and paint, on paper. You can see this figure standing, casually posed, yet his head is blank, a void. I think about how she built up the surface. The collaged photographs integrated into the figure’s clothing root him in a specific cultural context. Those blues, oranges, and greens remind me of David Hockney's vibrant domestic interiors, but there's an edge here, a kind of vulnerability. The material aspects of painting—the layering, the juxtaposition of textures—emphasize the complexities of identity, the way personal stories are enmeshed with broader cultural narratives. The blank head, though, it's an invitation, or maybe a dare, to fill in the gaps, to project our own narratives onto the figure. It makes you wonder, what are the stories we carry, and how do they shape who we become?