Victoria Miro is delighted to announce the representation of Khalif Tahir Thompson in partnership with Zidoun-Bossuyt Gallery. New work by the Brooklyn-based artist will feature in our forthcoming presentation at Frieze New York. Thompson’s first solo exhibition with the gallery will take place in London this October.
Khalif Tahir Thompson’s work can be seen as a kind of portraiture – both individual and collective, weaving through time. Born and based in Brooklyn, the artist invites viewers into the everyday lives of his subjects through vibrant domestic scenes, full of texture and pattern. Many of Thompson’s works are inspired by an archive of family photographs. What started as a small group of paintings honouring his familial ancestry evolved into a series that probed his interest in storytelling and artistic languages found within art history, particularly that of Black American experience.
In this ongoing series, Thompson constructs compositions using this familial cast of characters, layering contemporary and cultural references that encourage us to consider notions of race, home, time, belonging and, crucially, how identity is shared. Layered, too, is the painting surface – with collaged elements including paper and fabric, along with improvised arrangements of letters and numbers that challenge both the illusory space of the work and any literal reading we might bring to it.
The artist states, ‘I believe painting can be a tool in considering the emotional and psychological complexity of an individual’s story and identity. Creating imagery that connects one to the realm of another, I alter perception and invoke empathy towards my subjects, depicting their reality across a visceral lens.’
Glenn Scott Wright, President of Victoria Miro, said, ‘We are delighted to welcome Khalif Tahir Thompson to the gallery. His paintings are richly vibrant and powerfully resonant, both visually and in the histories and narratives they so evocatively portray. It has been a pleasure working closely with Khalif on our recent exhibition The Stories We Tell and we look forward to continuing our relationship as we bring his work to new audiences.’
Image: Khalif Tahir Thompson in his New York studio, 2026
Photography by Matt Grubb
