Jamal Cyrus

Jamal Cyrus (born 1973) is an American conceptual artist who works in a range of media, including drawing, sculpture, textiles, assemblage, installation, performance, and sound.

[1][2][3] His artistic and research practices investigates the history, culture, and identity of the United States, questioning conventional narratives and foregrounding Black political movements, social justice concerns, and the experiences and impact of the African diaspora, including Black music.

[12] Cyrus was an artist-in-residence at Artpace San Antonio in 2010 and a member of the Otabenga Jones and Associates artist collective from 2002 to 2017.

Cyrus's artistic practice is research-based; he makes use of physical and digital archives to investigate American history and historiography through the lens of Black oppression, liberation, and identity.

[14][17][18] In referencing material and iconographic aspects of Black history alongside historical events, interpretations, tropes, fabulations, and mythologies, Cyrus's work addresses themes such as counterculture, surveillance, militancy, revolution, and consumerism.

Jamal Cyrus's "Pride Frieze—Jerry White’s Record Shop, Central Avenue, Los Angeles" (2005-17) is a work that demonstrates Cyrus's interest in historiography and archival research, sculpture and assemblage, and Black American history, especially music. It is a painstaking reconstruction of a record shop storefront Cyrus saw in a book, featuring a hybrid of real and imagined histories of the Detroit-based "Pride Records" label, with found album covers, altered album covers, and total inventions. This photo was shared in the promotional press packet for the announcement of Jamal Cyrus as the winner of the 6th BMW Art Journey and is one of his most recognizable works.