b. 1989; Philadelphia, PA; lives and works in New York, NY
Education
2018 MFA, Yale University, New Haven, CT
2010 BFA, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA
Solo Exhibitions
2025 People who die bad dont stay in the ground, TILT Institute of Contemporary Image, Philadelphia, PA
2022grace comes violently, Yossi Milo Gallery, New York, NY
New Works, McClain Gallery, Houston, TX
2020 Feeling the Spirit in The Dark, The Mattress Factory Museum of Contemporary Art, Pittsburgh, PA
Ceremonies, Yossi Milo Gallery, New York (online)
2019 Rude / Emergencies, Ltd Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
Imagining Flesh Through Shadows, Alexander Brest Museum & Gallery, Jacksonville, FL
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The Language Must Not Sweat, Locust Projects, Miami, FL
- notes towards becoming a spill, Atlanta Contemporary, Atlanta, GA
2017
This was his body / His body finally his, MAK Gallery, London, UK
Somewhere over the ＿, Bunker Projects, Pittsburgh, PA
Somewhere over the ＿, Bunker Projects, Pittsburgh, PA
Selected Group Exhibitions
2025 Essex Hemphill: Take care of your blessings, The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.
Transcendence: A Century of Black Queer Ecstasy, University of Texas, Austin, TX
2023 A Two-Way Mirror. Double Consciousness in Contemporary Glass by Black Artists, Museum of Glass, Tacoma, WA
Full and Pure: Body, Materiality, Gender, Green Family Art Foundation, Dallas, TX
Behind Abstract Forms, Fragment, New York, NY
2022 Invisible Thread, The Baker Museum, Naples, FL
When I State that I am an Anarchist, PLATO Ostrava, Czech Republic
2021 Fetiche, Morán Morán Gallery, Mexico City, MX
The Skin I Live In, Lyles & King, New York, NY
This Is the Day, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR
Recent Acquisitions, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA
notes towards becoming a spill, Performa 2021 Biennial, New York, NY
Inspirited: Coda, Redbull Arts, Detroit, MI
A Beautiful America, Museum Dhondt—Dhaenens, Sint-Martens-Latem, Belgium
2020 Imagine Otherwise, Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland, Cleveland, OH
Enunciated Life, California African American Museum, Los Angeles, CA
The National, Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Fort Wayne, IN
Inspirited: Overture, Redbull Center for The Arts, Detroit, MI
2019 From the Margins, Gallery 102 at the Corcoran School of Art & Design, Washington, D.C.
Ebsploitation, Martos Gallery, New York, NY
2018 Familiar Boundaries. Infinite Possibilities, August Wilson Center, Pittsburgh, PA
Block Party, Jenkins Johnson Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
The Way We Live, Aperture Summer Open, Aperture Foundation, New York, NY
Ultra Vivid Dreaming, Blue Sky Gallery, Portland, OR
Countervisuality, Art Gallery at Bellevue College, Bellevue, WA
Kaleidoscope, Kravets Wehby Gallery, New York, NY
Twenty Ears, MFA Thesis Show, Yale School of Art, New Haven, CT
2017 Say It Loud: Art, History, Rebellion, Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, Detroit, MI
Open Video Call, Institue of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, PA
Brotha, The Overlook Place, Chicago, IL
Girls Who Are Boys, Who Like Boys To Be Girls, Verein Nachtschicht, Basel, Switzerland
2016 Labor Relations, Wroclaw Contemporary Museum, Wroclaw, Poland
Go Tell It: Civil Rights Photography, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA
Black Joy, Yale School of Art, New Haven, CT
Looking Thorugh: Photography, Race, & Identity, Adelphi University, Garden City, NY
Selected Awards & Grants
2022 The Pittsburgh Foundation Exposure Artist Fellowship
2020 Art Matters Foundation Grant
The Leslie Lohman Artist Fellowship
2019 The Joan Mitchel Foundation Painters & Sculptors Grants
Investing in Professional Artist Grant, The Pittsburgh Foundation
2018 The Advancing Black Art Grant, The Pittsburgh Foundation & The Heinz Endowments
2017 The Afro-American Cultural Center Award for Excellence in The Arts, Yale University
2016 Interdisciplinary Arts Awards, Center for Collaborative Arts and Media, Yale University
Student Wellness Grant, Yale University
The Advancing Black Art Grant, The Pittsburgh Foundation & The Heinz Endowments
2013 The Advancing Black Art Grant, The Pittsburgh Foundation & The Heinz Endowments
2010 University Artist Award, The Pennsylvania State University
2009 Leslie P. Greenhil Photography Scholarship, The Pennsylvania State University
Selected Collections
The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC
Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA
Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA
Jule Colins Smith Museum, Auburn, AL
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX
Newark Museum of Art, Newark, NJ
Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Providence, RI
University of Texas at Austin, TX
Vermeire-Notebaert Collection, Sint-Martens-Latem, Belgium
Westmoreland Museum of American Art, Greensburg, PA
Wroclaw Contemporary Museum, Wroclaw, Poland
21c Museum, Louisville, KY
Teaching Experience
MFA Core Faculty, Carnegie Mellon University School of Art, Pittsburgh, PA
Teaching Assistant, Yale University School of Art, New Haven, CT
Selected Film Festivals
2022 Visite Film Festival, Antwerp, Belgium
2018 Black Star Film Festival, Philadelphia, PA
In My Skin: Black Queer Shorts, Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, OH
Short Films Program, Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, FL
Rio Festival de Gênero & Sexualidade no Cinema, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil
BFI Flare, British Film Institute, London, UK
Inside Out LGBTQ Film Festival, TIFF, Toronto, CA
CinemAfrica Film Festival, Stockholm, Sweden
2017 GLITCH Film Festival, Scotland, England
Residencies
2025 Joan Mitchell Center, New Orleans, LA
2023Sharpe-Walentas Studio Program Awardee, New York, NY
2020 Mattress Factory Museum of Contemporary Art, Pittsburgh, PA
2019 Alpha Lab Gear, Pittsburgh, PA
2018 Long Road Projects, Jacksonville, FL
2016 Pittsburgh Glass Center, Pittsburgh, PA
2014–2018Bunker Projects, Pittsburgh, PA
Public Programs
2025 Statements On Style, MoMA, New York, NY
2021Aperture Conversations: Antwaun Sargent, Shikeith, and Naima Green on Black Queer Utopia, Aperture, New York, NY (online)
2019 Race, Sex, & Cinema: The World of Marlon Riggs, BAM Brooklyn, NY
2018 Studio Teens Lecture and Workship, Studio Museum of Harlem, NY
2017 An Evening with Shikeith and Rickey Laurentiis, MoMA, The Museum of Modern Art, NY
Art, Power, Protest: Northwestern Conference on Human Rights, Northwestern University
#Blackmendream, Screening and Discussion, The Philadelphia Art museum, Philadelphia, PA
2016 Photography and The Politics of Representation, The Vera List Center and Aperture Foundation, New York, NY
Women Take the Reel Film Festival, The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MA
#Blackmendream, Morehouse College, Atlanta, GA
2015 Brothas gonna work it out, University of Texas at Austin, TX
My People Film Series, Kelly Strayhorn Theater, Pittsburgh, PA
Selected Bibliography
2023 Tobias, James. “Black and Queer, Music on Screen: Distanced Derivations.” liquid blackness Volume 7, Issue 1. 1 April 2023
Fateman, Johanna. “Behind abstract forms.” 4 Columns. March 24, 2023
Mulgrew, Sophie, and Winchell, Haley. “Black History Month: Shikeith.” Musée Magazine. February 9, 2022
2022 Conner, Allison Noelle. “Opacity and the Spill: The Photographs of Clifford Prince King, Shikeith, and Paul Mpagi Sepuya.” Contemporary Art Review Los Angeles. November 2022
Goodly, Nicholas. “Four Poems by Nicholas Goodly.” BOMB Magazine. 30 September 2022
Balogun, Emmanuel. “Reframing Black Masculinity.” Elephant Magazine. September 2022
Valentine, Victoria L. “New York: 5 Gallery Exhibitions Explore Work of Artists Amanda Williams, Vivian Browne, Shikeith, Alberta Whittle, Alanis Forde, and Akilah Watts.” Culture Type. 23 June 2022
Huxtable, Isaac. “Lost in a Moment: Shikeith’s Wordless and Wordless Images of Gay Sensuality.” Elephant Magazine. 19 June 2022
Knoblauch, Loring. “Shikeith, grace comes violently @Yossi Milo.” Collector Daily. 16 June 2022
Rosen, Miss. “Shikeith’s spiritual photographs of Black masculinity.” Vice 13. June 2022
Heinrich, Will. “What to See in N.Y.C. Galleries Right Now.” The New York Times. 2 June 2022
Hopkins, Zoë. “Critics’ Picks: Shikeith, grace comes violently” Artforum. May 2022
Shikeith & Crawley, Ashon T. Shikeith: Notes towards Becoming a Spill, Aperture Foundation. June 2022 (book)
Reid, Tiana. “Shikeith’s Black Uncanny.” Aperture Magazine. Spring 2022
2021 “8 LGBTQIA+ Artists on Self-Portraiture and Expressions of Pride.” Artsy Editorial. 8 June 2021
Pavlis, Preston. “Feeling the Spirit in the Dark” (review). C Magazine, Issue 148 “Body Language.” Winter 2021
“New Talent: Shikeith.” Art in America. May/June 2021
O’Grady, Megan. “How Friendship Helps Us Transcend Ourselves.” The New York Times Style Magazine. 12 April 2021
O’Driscoll, Bill. “Pittsburgh-Based Artist Shikeith Gains National Profile Exploring Black Male Queer Lives.” NPR Pittsburgh. 3 March 2021
Rich, Katey. “Introducing the Inaugural Silver List, Featuring 47 Exciting Contemporary Photogrphers Whose Work You Just Have to See.” Vanity Fair. 11 Feburary 2021
Allen, Dan. “Queer artists of color dominate 2021’s must-see LGBTQ art shows.” NBC News. 7 February 2021
Harrison, Mia Imani. “Shikeith Exorcises The Histories That Haunt Black Queer Men.” Frieze. 21 January 2021
2020 Sargent, Antwaun. “The Queer Black Artists Building Worlds of Desire.” Aperture. 8 December 2020
Soldi, Fafael. “Q&A: Shikeith.” Strange Fire. 12 November 2020
Harper, Daria. “Shikeith Reimagines Black Masculinity in a Euphoric New Installation.” Artsy. 21 Augus 2020
2019 Mizota, Sharon. “Black masculinity and an artist’s exploration of desire, intimacy and queerness.” Los Angeles Times. 16 October 2019
Miss Orsen. “Artist Shikeith explores black male desire through his photography.” Dazed. 2 September 2019
Tranen, Joshua Gutterman. “An Intimate Film Traces Black Masculinity From Boyhood.” Hyperallergic. 31 May 2019
Smith, TK. “Notes Towards Becoming A Spill: Shikeith at Atlanta Contemporary.” Burnaway. 18 April 2019
2018 Sargent, Antwaun. “Where ‘Block Party’ Has a Score of Meanings.” The New York Times. 16 August 2018
Amadasi, Barabara. “Black culture: the exhibition in New York.” Vogue Italia. 20 July 2018
2017 Sargent, Antwaun. “Tender Photos of Black Men That Redefine Masculinity.” Vice. 22 August 2017
Bernard, Jesse. “The artist unraveling black magic and masculinity in himself.” Dazed and Confused. 27 July 2017
Candy, Eve. “Black queer artist intimately explores the multifaceted experiences of his community in London exhibit.” Afropunk. 19 September 2017
2016 Sargent, Antwaun. “3 Photographers Expose Race in America c. 2016.” Vice. 29 February 2016
2015 Sargent, Antwaun. “The Black Lies Matter Film Syllabus: 10 films that explore the meaning of black life in America.” Tribeca Film. 14 July 2015
Brumfitt, Stuart. “Aritst Shikeith and His #blackmendream Project.” i-D. 1 June 2015