Nikesha Breeze's installation, Black Archive, captivates viewers with its large portrait, Anonymous African American Man with Child: 1855, executed in oil on canvas and framed in bronze. The elderly man in the painting hesitates to meet the viewer's gaze, while the child appears daring and self-assured. Adjacent to this work are two more paintings framed in walnut, complementing a row of ceramic masks from Ghana that connect the contemporary and ancestral stories. A charcoal portrait in the alcove further enhances the immersive experience of the installation.
The painting Anonymous African American Man with Child: 1855 is oil on canvas, and is set in a large cold-cast bronze hand-sculpted frame that centers the subjects in a kingly fashion and speaks of old-world privilege and prestige.
On opposing walls to the left and the right of this piece are two other paintings. Black Cane Carver and Mary and Isadora Noe Freeman. Both are framed in walnut, with velvet and cold cast bronze crafted by Breeze.
The masks are striking in their reality. Living people look out at you while the faces of the ancestors stare back, distant relatives of the portraits they lead up to and away from.
Tucked into the alcove by the gallery entrance is Portrait of a Young African American man, seated in charcoal and graphite on a cracked gesso panel, enhancing the immersive experience.
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