About the Exhibition

Originally from Pine Bluff, Markeith Woods is a working artist and arts educator based in Bentonville Arkansas. Woods received an MFA from the University of Arkansas School of Art in 2022 and has shown work across the country including Jonathan Ferrara Gallery in New Orleans, Historic Arkansas Museum in Little Rock, and Zinc Contemporary in Seattle. He is a recipient of the Artist 360 grant and has been featured in numerous magazines and journals including At Home Arkansas, Visionary Art Collective Magazine, and New American Painting. Woods Is represented by Art Ventures in Fayetteville Arkansas as well as MIXD Gallery in Rogers Arkansas.

These portraits by Bentonville-based artist Markeith Woods, depict friends and neighbors from Woods’ hometown of Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Situated in the Delta Lowlands, Pine Bluff is a predominantly Black community with over 75 percent of the population identifying as African American, and like many parts of the country, the city has a longstanding history of red-lining, segregation, discrimination, and structural racism that continues today. In the artist’s work, some subjects question whether or how to leave their community, while others reflect on what they have left behind in search of other opportunities.

Markeith’s work is on view through our Elevate program. Elevate at 21c presents temporary exhibitions of works by artists living and working in the communities surrounding each 21c Museum Hotel property. Elevate in The Hive lounge provides hotel guests and local visitors unique access to the work of notable regional artists, while featuring their work in the context of 21c’s contemporary art space.