Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Nekisha Durrett (b. 1976) is a mixed-media artist known for her expansive multidisciplinary works. After completing her MFA at the University of Michigan School of Art and Design, she accepted a graphic production position at the Smithsonian Office of Exhibit Central; it was there she noticed how large-scale imagery seemed to captivate viewers in museum spaces. A photographer by trade, Durrett began—after a three-year lull from making art—shooting scenes that moved her and then printing the images at larger-than-ever scales. Quickly she pivoted to drawing, and then the commissions began. Durrett jokes about having a “short person’s complex,” but the reality is that the scale of her work allows her to speak up in a way that never felt possible under other circumstances. 

Inspired by history, Durrett appreciates Toni Morrison’s approach to writing—her focus on the heroism behind the minutiae of everyday life (Durrett cites the author’s shoe metaphor in her novel Song of Solomon). She aspires to do the same in her public artworks, installations, paintings, and sculptures; in terms of her own process, Durrett is adamant that the site in question, and her own research on the surrounding environment, dictates her decision-making; and though she enjoys experimenting with new materials, she’ll work with whatever best allows the story to be told. In June, she unveiled Queen City in Arlington, Virginia: a permanent public artwork commission that invites viewers to consider the erased history that thrived before the Pentagon was built in 1941, when Eminent Domain displaced the surrounding community. Durrett decided to work with bricks because the community in question sat next to the Brickyard, where many of the neighborhood’s Black residents worked. The same bricks these workers created, Durrett learned, were used to lay the foundation for the National Mall; an impressive feat. These laborers were making bricks for other people—so what, then, would they build for themselves? Queen City is an homage to this, and a way of celebrating the beauty in the resistance.