The FLAG Art Foundation’s Spotlight exhibition series includes new or never-before-exhibited artworks accompanied by commissioned pieces of writing. It is the hope of this series to create focused and thoughtful dialogues between the visual arts and authors, critics, poets, peers, scholars, and beyond. In this iteration, the Spotlight features a new work by Derek Fordjour and a text by journalist and author Donovan X. Ramsey.

On the occasion of Spotlight: Derek Fordjour, the artist will be present for a conversation with Katy Siegel, Distinguished Professor and the Thaw Chair at Stony Brook University on Wednesday, November 11, from 6-8 PM; The conversation will begin at 6:30. RSVP here.

Derek Fordjour was born in Memphis, Tennessee, to Ghanaian parents. He is the recipient of the 2025 Gordon Parks Foundation Artist Fellowship, the 2023 St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital Spirit of the Dream Award, and the 2022 Alliance for Young Artists & Writers Alumni Achievement Award. He has previously served as the Alex Katz Chair in Painting at Cooper Union, and a Visiting Critic at Yale and Columbia Universities. He has received public commissions for High Line Art and MTA’s Arts & Design program in New York City, and MOCA Grand Avenue in Los Angeles. Fordjour’s work is held in notable public collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, Guggenheim Museum, and The Royal Collection in London, among others. His work has been reviewed in numerous publications including The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Financial Times. A monograph of his work is forthcoming by Phaidon in 2027. He is a graduate of Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, earned a Master’s Degree in Art Education from Harvard University and an MFA in painting from Hunter College. In 2021, he founded Contemporary Arts Memphis, a youth-based arts organization in his hometown.