PROJECT DESCRIPTION

A visceral and haunting exploration of Black male vulnerability, joy, and spirituality, Shikeith’s vision follows the lyric artistic expressions of other contemporary portrait photographers like Deana Lawson, Paul Mpagi Sepuya, and Mickalene Thomas.

Notes towards Becoming a Spill brings together a series of striking studio portraits of Black male subjects as they inhabit various states of meditation, prayer, and ecstasy. Shikeith describes the work as “leaning into the uncanny,” visualizing ritual and the process of excavating Black men’s erotic potential, the better to exorcise the “intangible presences that haunt their bodies and psyches.” The men’s faces and bodies glisten with sweat (and tears) - the manifestation and evidence of desire. This ecstasy is what critic Antwaun Sargent proclaims “an ideal, a warm depiction that insists on concrete possibility for another world.”

BOOK INFORMATION

Trim Size: 8.12 x 12.75 x 0.63 in.

Number of Pages: 112

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CREDIT INFORMATION

Creative Director: Lesley A. Martin

Art Director:

Book Designer: Rush Jackson

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Illustrator:

Photographer: Shikeith

Picture Editor: Lesley A. Martin

Production Director: Minjee Cho

Production Coordinator: Thomas Bollier

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Other Credits: Shikeith: Notes towards Becoming a Spill was made possible, in part, by leadership support from Arts, Equity, & Education Fund (aeefund.org) and the 7|G Foundation (7gfoundation.com), and by the generosity of Michael Hoeh.

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