THE BLACK ARCHIVE SPEAKER SERIES
Shikeith, Multidisciplinary Artist & Filmmaker

THE BLACK ARCHIVE SPEAKER SERIES

THREE SPEAKERS. THREE GUIDED CONVERSATIONS. WINTER 2026

Shikeith, Multidisciplinary Artist & Filmmaker

In conversation with London Pierre Williams, Multidisciplinary Artist

Saturday, March 7th, 2026 from 2 – 3pm

This presentation examines Black queer manhood within a historical landscape shaped by carceral systems and the regulatory gaze of the state. Drawing from Shikeith’s Notes Towards Becoming A Spill, it introduces the concept of the “spill” as both a theoretical framework and an embodied practice. In this approach, resistance is understood not as fixed opposition but as movement across and beyond imposed boundaries.

By enacting a refusal of containment, the project proposes a fugitive masculinity grounded in permeability, motion, and evasion, one that moves beyond the limits of archives and institutions. Emphasizing opacity rather than spectacle, the work explores strategic withdrawal as a form of self-determination. In reimagining the body as a “spill,” the presentation challenges dominant constructions of manhood and points toward a more expansive and uncontainable horizon for Black queer life.

Shikeith, a multidisciplinary artist and filmmaker based in Pittsburgh, delves into the emotional and psychological landscapes of Black men in his work. Drawing on hauntological aesthetics, African diasporic spiritual traditions, and the lasting impacts of colonialism, his art has been showcased and held in prominent institutions such as the Phillips Collection, the Hammer Museum, the Carnegie Museum of Art, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

London Pierre Williams’ work has been exhibited at Yossi Millo Gallery in New York, NY; Steven Zevitas Gallery in Boston, MA; Yale School of Art, New Haven, CT; Brewhouse Arts in Pittsburgh, PA, Miller Institute for Contemporary Art, Pittsburgh, PA; Haw Contemporary, Kansas City, MO; San Dao Gallery, Wuhan, China, and DooSung Paper Gallery, Seoul, Korea. The artist is a 2024-25 artivist with 1hood Media Academy, Pittsburgh, PA; and a 2024-25 artist-in-residence with the Brewhouse Arts Distillery Emerging Artists Program, Pittsburgh, PA.

Photo captions:
Shikeith, Multidisciplinary Artist and Filmmaker. Photo by Shikeith, Courtesy the artist.
London Pierre Williams, Multidisciplinary Artist. Photo by Kitoko Chargois, Courtesy the artist.

The Black Archive Speaker Series is made possible through the generous support of: