About

Nekisha Durrett (b. 1976 | Washington, DC) brings hidden and overlooked histories into public view. Grounded in deep research and material exploration, her multidisciplinary practice spans public art, installation, sculpture, painting, and social practice. Durrett is especially drawn to stories of Black life, labor, and imagination that have been forgotten or intentionally erased, creating spaces that hold both remembrance and possibility. 

Durrett’s work often begins with fragments—an archival image, a personal story, a neglected site—and evolves into layered forms that invite reflection, ritual, and collective memory. Through site-specific installations and collaborative processes, Durrett makes room for voices long silenced and for futures not yet written. 

Durrett holds a BFA from The Cooper Union in New York City and MFA from The University of Michigan School of Art and Design as a Horace H. Rackham Fellow. She was a Smithsonian Artist Research Fellow at the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and a For Freedoms and Civics Arts Lab Fellow at the Corcoran and National Gallery of Art. Durrett recently completed a commission for the ARCH Project at Bryn Mawr College in partnership with Monument Lab, and is in production on Hem of Heaven, a monumental, community-driven commission for the Obama Presidential Center to be unveiled in June 2026.