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To quote Kehinde Wiley: “Painting is about the world we live in. Black people live in the world. My choice is to include them. This is my way of saying yes to us.”

When you think of historical portraits, who do you picture? Do you imagine powerful rulers, royal families, or ladies of high society? Contemporary portraitist Kehinde Wiley noticed that not everyone was represented in our collective art histories. In a narrative mainly written from a European perspective by white men, Wiley took it upon himself to fill in the gaps.

Creating bold, large-scale portraits, often set against vibrant, ornate backgrounds inspired by classical European paintings, Kehinde Wiley updates these historical compositions with contemporary Black subjects to spotlight the complex socio-political landscape of today.

As a gay Black man, Wiley is driven to reposition black men, in particular, as subjects of grace, power, and vulnerability, as opposed to an often-reported perspective that centres around toxic masculinity, objectification, and in some cases, violence.

In 2018, Kehinde Wiley became the first African-American artist to paint an official U.S. Presidential portrait of Barack Obama. Shortly after, the artist founded the Black Rock Senegal – an artist-in-residency programme that invites creative individuals to live and create.

Kehinde Wiley’s legacy continues to deconstruct our past relationships with power and art. Through his vibrant and thought-provoking portraits, he sparks important conversations about race, identity, and how we as a society can address our past – to question, what is the power of representation today?