'“I am from Canarsie,” he explained. “I went back home and to different places that I connected with growing up: the murals, the hair salon and the diner. I took references and then collaged them when I got back here. A lot of these outdoor scenes were built that way.”
There is something almost anthropological, event Situationists, in this attempt to chart, in a deeply personal and emotional way, a topography of these places. In this body of work, Thompson oscillates between the personal and the collective – the family archive and popular culture – as if contemplating how individuals are shaped as much by where they come from as by the environments through which they move and through the mysterious accumulation of meanings, messages and impressions absorbed as one’s social circle widens.' — Elisa Carollo
Image: Khalif Tahir Thompson, Arch Diner, 2026
Oil, acrylic, and handmade paper on canvas
120 cm x 180 cm
47 1/4 x 70 7/8 in
© Khalif Tahir Thompson
Courtesy the artist and Victoria Miro
