In contrast, Sherald’s painting of Taylor was the first portrait she had painted after a subject’s death. “When Ta-Nehisi Coates came to me with the invitation, I had never considered painting someone posthumously. My practice is based on finding live models,” she says. Coates is a US journalist and author who was guest editing Vanity Fair’s September issue at the time. “I began to do research looking for any images I could find that had not already been used.” Sherald portrayed Taylor in a long green dress with high slits against a similarly-coloured background. “When I asked her mom to describe Breonna, she sweetly said that she was a diva in the best sense of the word. She loved getting dressed up. She was always put together,” Sherald explains. “I painted her how I thought her family would want to remember her.”
According to Allison Glenn, who curated the 2021 exhibition commemorating Taylor at the Speed Art Museum in Louisville, Kentucky, what makes Sherald’s painting stand out is its symbolism. “She could be anybody. She could be your sister, your cousin, your friend, your aunt, your mother, your granddaughter, your daughter, your wife,” Glenn tells BBC Culture, adding that Sherald appears to have depicted Taylor in the future. “She included the engagement ring that her fiancé was going to give to her, and imagined how she might want to be represented.”
Olivia LifungulaWhen Sherald looks back at her older works, she feels a sense of nostalgia. “Growing a practice is about the journey, and there are some sweet moments in some paintings that remind me of how far I’ve come,” the artist says. “It’s like looking back at a diary.” But her new work is beginning to reflect some more personal touches. In her show at Hauser & Wirth, Sherald revealed the first painting she has made of a family member, titled He was Meant for All Things to Meet (2022). It shows her lacrosse-playing nephew (her partner’s twin’s son) in a lime-green jumper and denim trousers in front of a lighter green background. “My partner and his brothers grew up in Bedstuy and Flatbush in the 80s,” Sherald says, explaining that they were raised in a difficult setting. “Families living in urban environments [at the time] had to be concerned with public safety and the crack cocaine epidemic.”
