Cradle Your Conquest 2012

Njideka Akunyili Crosby made this painting, “Cradle Your Conquest”, with acrylic, charcoal, pastel, and collage on paper. She's got this amazing approach to artmaking as a layering process - literally, with the collage elements, but also in how she builds up the image. The surface is a playground of textures. Look at how the collage elements create a kind of visual tapestry, contrasting with the smoother, more fluid passages of paint. See the man's blue hair, rendered with a kind of dreamy softness. Then, your eye is drawn to the woman's gaze, so direct and present amidst all the layered imagery. It’s like a conversation between different realities, histories, and intimacies. Crosby's work is reminiscent of artists like Romare Bearden, who also used collage to weave together personal and cultural narratives. What Crosby does is deeply her own, embracing ambiguity and multiple interpretations.