The Collection
Kenturah Davis
Aligned interference
In ‘Aligned interference’ manifold colors bloom across the paper’s surface, melding into a kaleidoscopic universe. From this, a figure emerges – a young woman caught in swift motion. Davis employs a distinct technique, applying rubber letter stamps slick with oil paint in a repeated motion, to render the figure’s body – making her visible through illegible language. Illuminating her form, shades of violet and lavender descend into indigo meeting the flow of thin green ink detailed by splashes of bubblegum pink. The ink Davis uses here is characterized as “fugitive,” in reference to its unpredictability and changing appearance. The chemical makeup of the ink causes it to shift color when exposed to sunlight – dependent on the intensity and duration of the exposure. We can understand the intentionality of Davis’ practice through this artwork. Its very materiality speaks to the mutability of life and destabilizes any attempts at flattening individuals like the young woman she has captured here.
Kenturah Davis is a multidisciplinary artist working between Los Angeles, New Haven, and Accra, Ghana. Her practice explores the intersections of language, identity, and figuration, using text as both material and conceptual foundation. Davis works fluidly across drawing, painting, textile, sculpture, and performance, developing what she often calls “text drawings”—portraits composed from repeated handwritten words, phrases, and passages. Through this method, she investigates how language shapes perception and how mark-making can operate as both image and meaning.
Davis earned her BA from Occidental College and an MFA from the Yale University School of Art. Her work reflects a sustained inquiry into the role of language from the African diaspora and its capacity to construct, destabilize, or rearticulate identity. Whether rendered in charcoal, thread, ink, or sculptural form, her portraits blur the boundary between text and figure, producing images that oscillate between legibility and abstraction. This approach extends to collaborations in fashion and design, including a project with Osei Duro, and informs performance-based works that consider drawing as a ritual or ancestral gesture.
Davis has presented numerous solo exhibitions, including Clouds at Stephen Friedman Gallery, London (2024); Dark Illumination at Oxy Arts, Los Angeles (2023); apropos of air at Matthew Brown, Los Angeles (2021); (a)Float, (a)Fall, (a)Dance, (a)Death at Jeffrey Deitch, New York (2021); and Everything That Cannot Be Known at the SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah (2020). Her work has been featured in major institutional exhibitions worldwide, including Accra! The Rise of a Global Art Community at the Columbus Museum of Art (2023); Full Figure at the Cantor Arts Center, Stanford (2023); Together in Time at the Hammer Museum (2023); Portrait of a Nation at the National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C. (2022); the California Biennial at OCMA (2022); the Yokohama Triennial (2014); and exhibitions across Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, and the United States.
Her work is held in significant public and private collections, including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Brooklyn Museum; Studio Museum in Harlem; Hammer Museum; Walker Art Center; Blanton Museum of Art; the Rubell Family Collection; and The Bunker ArtSpace, among others. Notably, the Pérez Art Museum Miami acquired Black As the Most Exquisite Color (2019) as part of a major acquisitions initiative. In 2022, Davis’s portrait of filmmaker Ava DuVernay was unveiled at the National Portrait Gallery.
Davis has received numerous fellowships and residencies, including the inaugural NXTHVN Artist Fellowship in New Haven; the DAMLI Fellowship at the Cleveland Museum of Art; the Headlands Residency in Sausalito; the Sherman Family Foundation Residency at the Baltimore Museum of Art (2024); and the Dorchester Industries Experimental Design Lab by Theaster Gates and Prada. She was also commissioned by LA Metro to create permanent, site-specific installations for the Crenshaw/LAX (K Line) rail line, underscoring her commitment to public engagement and the social dimensions of language and image.
