Predecessors 2013

Njideka Akunyili Crosby made this painting, Predecessors, with acrylic, transfers, and collage on paper. Look at the woman: sitting, posing, reading, and thinking. Is she in a domestic interior, or a dream space that is collaged with images? I can imagine Akunyili Crosby moving between her subject matter and the painting, layering meaning and references across time, place, and culture. The surface is built up in thin washes of color, interwoven with photographs that are both personal and collective, creating a kind of tapestry. The details are so precise and delicate. The shoes, for example, which might just be my favorite part. The composition looks at once fractured and cohesive, as if the artist has woven together the threads of memory and experience into something entirely new. Like other artists, Akunyili Crosby invites us to consider the complex and often contradictory nature of identity, history, and belonging. These paintings offer space to reflect on the past, engage with the present, and imagine new futures.