Please join the City of West Palm Beach and the CRA for the unveiling of Nekisha Durrett’s public art commission, Genius Loci. For guests coming from our first Public Panel discussion at The Square West Palm Beach, this special event takes place at the end of the 1.3-mile parade route led by the Palm Beach Lakes High School Marching Band.

Genius Loci is a public artwork that was inspired by the legacy of Sunset Lounge, the "Cotton Club of the South," and the history of the Styx, a community in West Palm that built Palm Beach Island and was mysteriously burned to the ground in 1910. An oversized RCA-inspired gramophone of copper sheeting supported by conrete resembling charred wood, Genius Loci invites park visitors to ponder what voices of Palm Beach Black history would be amplified from the earth.

Genius Loci is made possible through a partnership between ArtLife WPB and West Palm Beach CRA.

About Nekisha Durrett: From vast freestanding sculptures to intimate gallery installations, Nekisha Durrett’s work leverages unexpected materials to make visible the historical connections and connotations that places and materials embody, but are overlooked in our day-to-day lives. Whether reimagining pre colonial landscapes, bygone Black communities, or family lore, Durrett’s research-driven practice strives to carve out contemplative spaces and offer opportunities for viewers to consider what is revealed or concealed when information is filtered across time. Durrett earned her BFA at 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 is currently the Howard University Social Justice Consortium’s (SJC) Artist in Residence Fellow, and a finalist for the Sondheim Prize in 2023. Her work is included in numerous private collections and public institutions, including The National Museum of African American History and Culture and The Phillips Collection in Washington, DC.

This event is free and open to the public!