This fall, Visiting MFA Core Faculty member Shikeith opened his first solo exhibition in Philadelphia and is also preparing his first public sculpture commission for Pittsburgh’s new Arts Landing.
“People Who Die Bad Don’t Stay in the Ground”
September 11–November 22, 2025 | Tilt Institute for the Contemporary Image, Philadelphia
Shikeith’s first solo exhibition in his hometown of Philadelphia draws its title from Toni Morrison’s Beloved, delving into the ways historical trauma continues to shape the present. Through photography, video, and installation, “People Who Die Bad Don’t Stay in the Ground” explores the lived realities of Black men and boys, creating a space where the past’s “unsettled echoes,” as the artist describes them, remain in dialogue with today.
Hold at Arts Landing
Opening April 2026 | Pittsburgh Cultural District
Pittsburgh’s inaugural public art program at the forthcoming four-acre Arts Landing downtown will feature Shikeith’s first public sculpture, Hold. Rising ten feet tall, the iron vessel houses glowing neon glass within its interior cavity, invoking the spatial histories of water and the architecture of the slave ship’s hold. Curated by Anastasia James and presented by the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, the commission invites reflection on Black life and collective memory as part of the city’s evolving cultural landscape.
