Nekisha Durrett Named as 2025 Artist in Alexandria’s Waterfront Public Art Series
The City of Alexandria’s Office of the Arts named DC-based artist Nekisha Durrett as the next artist to create a public art installation for the Site See series in Waterfront Park in Spring 2025.
Since launching in 2019 in the new Waterfront Park, the Site See series continues to surprise and attract visitors from throughout the region and beyond. Durrett was selected to create the 7th site-specific artwork in the series by a community task force with approval from the Alexandria Commission for the Arts. Her work will follow installations by Studio KCA (2024), Nina Cooke John (2023), R&R Studio (2022), Mark Reigelman (2021), Olalekan Jeyifous (2020) and SOFTlab (2019).
“The Site/See series has made Alexandria’s waterfront into a destination for engaging contemporary art,” said Diane Ruggiero, who leads the Office of the Arts and is a deputy director for the Department of Recreation, Parks and Cultural Activities. “We love how the public has embraced these installations and we can’t wait to bring Nekisha to Alexandria to create the next chapter.”
Born in Washington, DC, Durrett’s recent large-scale projects include Queen City, a 35’ tall “vessel” in Arlington, VA that pays homage to 903 individuals displaced for the construction of the Pentagon in 1941, and Airshaft, a two-story installation at the Phillips Collection in Washington, DC. She was recently awarded the commission for the ARCH Project at Bryn Mawr College in partnership with Monument Lab.
For reasonable disability accommodation, contact Diane Ruggiero at diane.ruggiero@alexandriava.gov or 703.746.5590, Virginia Relay 711.
If you prefer communication in another language, free interpretation and translation services are available. Please email LanguageAccess@alexandriava.govor call 703.746.3960.
More information is available at siteseealx.com and alexandriava.gov/publicart.
About Nekisha Durrett
Nekisha Durrett is a mixed-media artist who employs the visual language of mass media to bring forward histories that objects, places, and words embody, but are not often celebrated. Her expansive practice includes public art, social practice, installation, painting, sculpture, and design. Through deep research and material investigation, she finds historical traces in the present that are filled with stories easily overlooked. Her work contemplates biases and the unreliability of memory, as information is filtered over time. Durrett illuminates individual and collective histories of Black life and imagination, addressing her own younger self and the stories she wished she had learned.
Durrett holds a BFA from 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.
About Site See: New Views in Old Town
An Annual Series of Temporary Public Art Installations at Waterfront Park
The Site See public art series is an annual rotation of temporary installations that showcase Alexandria’s public art program through innovative, exciting, high-quality contemporary art at this key riverfront location. The aim is to bring work that is unlike anything that can be experienced in the region.
A nationally recognized public-art series, Site See: New Views in Old Town highlights Waterfront Park as a civic space, fostering community engagement and interactions with temporary installations. Each artwork in the series is informed by the historic waterfront and neighboring community. The compelling, unique art attracts repeat visits from the metropolitan area and beyond.
About the Office of the Arts
The Office of the Arts, a division of the Recreation, Parks and Cultural Activities Department, promotes the value of arts and culture in Alexandria by nurturing, investing in, and celebrating the creative contributions of artists and arts organizations. Through engaging the community, encouraging participation, and facilitating access to the arts, the Office of the Arts works with local artists and arts organizations to build a vibrant community for all of the City's residents, workers, and visitors. Learn more at alexandriava.gov/publicart or follow @alexartsoffice on Instagram. Add to the conversation with #artsALX.
Alexandria at 275: Connecting to our past to define a brighter future.
Since its 1749 founding, the historic city of Alexandria has played a major role in our nation’s story and reflected its progress toward inclusivity. Join us at events from April through September as we mark Alexandria's 275th anniversary and embark on the next chapter in our City’s vibrant history at alexandriava.gov/ALX275
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