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The turmoil of 2020 was a canvas for Derek Fordjour’s provocative multidisciplinary art. An alumnus of Hunter College’s MFA program, Fordjour had a breakthrough year with two critically acclaimed exhibitions. The first, aptly titled “Shelter,” was shown at the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, his first museum solo exhibition. It featured a corrugated tin shack that viewers walked through to view his work; the other was a triptych of Black mourning titled “Self Must Die” at the Petzel Gallery in Manhattan.
On Fordjour’s canvases, jubilant public spectacles like marching bands and athletic contests are transformed from mere physical performances into surveys of emotional complexity. A first-generation Ghanaian-American from Memphis, Fordjour explores the violence perpetuated on Black bodies and the all-too familiar public scenes of Black death and suffering. His work is multi-layered — each canvas is built with successive layers of cardboard, newspaper, charcoal and paint — and captures the eye in a dazzling spectrum of color and emotion. As The New York Times noted in a recent profile, Fordjour’s work is a careful balancing act “between anguish and transcendence.” On this episode of the CUNYcast, Fordjour talks with Joe Tirella about his work, his life and his breakout year.