Kehinde Wiley: An Archeology of Silence

 

Kehinde Wiley's An Archaeology of Silence presents paintings and sculptures examining the legacies of colonialism. Holbein's The Dead Christ in the Tomb (1521–22) inspired Wiley's 2008 series Down, a group of portraits of young Black men, beginning his ongoing investigation into the iconography of death in Western art. The Archaeology of Silence expands on this by focusing on those who have experienced state-sanctioned violence all over the world. Wiley, a world-renowned visual artist and the first African American to paint an official US Presidential portrait, resides and works in Beijing, Dakar and New York.