Home. Say It Loud 2017

Njideka Akunyili Crosby made this painting, ‘Home. Say It Loud’, layering photography and acrylic, like weaving different stories onto a single canvas. The room is awash with these muted, cool tones that give it a sense of quiet intimacy. Look at the surfaces – the walls, the floor, almost entirely covered in photographic images. I love how Crosby combines the photographic and painterly in a kind of dance. Some areas are built up with layers of paint, almost obscuring the images beneath, while in other parts, the photos are clearly visible, like memories pushing through the surface. Look at the way the light falls on the worn leather of the armchair, how the photographs seem to continue on to the surface, as if merging two realities. It makes me think of Julie Mehretu, how she layers different histories and geographies in her work to create these dense, complex surfaces. Both artists show us that art is not about fixed answers but about embracing the messy, contradictory nature of experience.