Image: Njideka Akunyili Crosby, ‘The Beautyful Ones’ Series #7, 2018. Acrylic, colour pencil and transfers on paper, 152.1 × 108 cm (59 7/8 × 42 1/2 in.). © Njideka Akunyili Crosby. Courtesy the artist, Victoria Miro, and David Zwirner. On view at the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston
Njideka Akunyili Crosby will join Ruth Erickson, the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston’s Barbara Lee Chief Curator, for a public conversation at the museum on Thursday, September 24, 2026, at 7 p.m. Admission is free, but an advance ticket is required: the ICA opened member presales on Wednesday, August 12 and general tickets on Wednesday, August 19, both at 11 a.m.
According to the ICA, Crosby has been selected to create the first official portrait of President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama for the Obama Presidential Center, which opens in Chicago in summer 2026. The museum says that commission will be one of the evening’s subjects, alongside the artist’s creative process and her ongoing exploration of hope and optimism in ‘The Beautyful Ones’ series.
The ICA describes Crosby’s densely layered surfaces as bringing together painting, drawing, collage, photography and printmaking to reflect on “the dailyness of life.” Her ‘The Beautyful Ones’ Series #7 (2018), an acrylic, coloured pencil and transfer work on paper measuring 152.1 by 108 cm, is on view in the museum’s galleries, as is Facets: Screen Wall.
The talk is the latest in the ICA’s ongoing ‘The Artist’s Voice’ series, which continues on Sunday, September 27 with a conversation between Erickson and Lucy Raven. The museum is at 25 Harbor Shore Drive, Boston.
