Xayvier Haughton's 'Black Body Radiation' at Ki Smith Gallery

Ki Smith Gallery in New York presents 'Black Body Radiation,' a solo exhibition by Jamaican artist Xayvier Haughton (born 1986, St Catherine). Running from July 8 to August 2, the show features mixed-media works that blend spiritual and material elements, drawing on Afro-Caribbean traditions rooted in the legacy of colonial slavery. Haughton assembles fabrics, nails, and found objects to create vivid, layered pieces that explore ritual, magic, and collective memory. The title references the artist's engagement with blackness as a radiant, sacred force, challenging passive consumption and market-driven art. The exhibition foregrounds the resilience and creativity of diasporic communities, intertwining symbolism, memory, and the sacred to celebrate life and struggle. Haughton's work connects to a broader lineage of African diasporic art, using materiality to evoke histories often unknown to those who have only known conquest.