France / 2016 / 5mins / Experimental

Drawing parallels between Théodore Géricault’s evocative 1819 painting Raft of Medusa and the contemporary stories of Africans who endured grueling journeys towards the west, this short considers the role of colonialism in migration.

Alexis Peskine

Alexis Peskine’s signature works are large-scale mixed media ‘portraits’ of the African diaspora, which are rendered by hammering gold gilded nails of different gauges, with pin-point accuracy, into wood stained with coffee and mud to create breathtaking composite images. He depicts figures that portray strength and perseverance, with energy reminiscent of the spiritually charged Minkisi ‘power figures’ of the Congo Basin. He also produces photography and video works. Peskine had his first solo exhibition at the October Gallery in 2017 with major exposure at international art fairs with the gallery in the following years. Alongside this in 2016, Institut Français, Dakar, Senegal held Raft of Medusa: Le retour de la vague, a solo exhibition of Peskine’s works. In 2018, his works were featured in the exhibition In Their Own Form at the Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago and Africa House’s Second Generation exhibition in New York. Major museums including the New Britain Museum of American Art, Connecticut; The Harvard Art Fogg Museum, MA, USA; Pizzuti Collection of the Columbus Museum of Art, OH, USA and Museum of Contemporary Photography, IL, USA, have collected Peskine’s works. He has been the recipient of many prestigious prizes including a Fulbright scholarship and Hennessy Black Masters Art Competition award. In the past decade, Peskine has worked with inner city youth in France, Senegal and Brazil to create a number of monumental pieces, the largest of which was produced in France in 2012. Learn More