Dennis RedMoon Darkeem, Friends and Family, 2024, ceramic tile, marble, granite, travertine and stone, PS 87 Addition, Bronx

Friends and Family is a site-specific artwork created by Dennis RedMoon Darkeem for the gymnatorium lobby in the new P.S. 87 Addition, Bronx. Six panels, each measuring seven feet high, depict silhouetted vignettes of students engaged in everyday activities: one student walks purposefully with their backpack, a group performs step dancing in formation, a pair practice a musical duet on a violin and cello, one student proudly poses with a basketball, another student performs a public speech for an audience, and a pair triumphantly raise their diplomas at graduation.  

To create the artwork, Darkeem researched the school’s archive and selected photos from decades of historical documents and images showing students engaged in a wide range of school events and activities. Converting the figures into silhouetted forms and introducing bold swaths of color and geometric patterns in the background, he transformed the photos into dynamic, puzzle-like compositions. Each color in the designs was assigned a specific ceramic tile or stone to be used in the fabrication of the murals. The result has a patchwork aesthetic and speaks to the crafting traditions from Darkeem’s indigenous Yamassee Yat’siminoli Creek Seminole and African-American heritage. Friends and Family, with its larger-than-life students, elevates each to a heroic stature, celebrating them and their accomplishments and serving as inspiration for future generations.