Dumebi Malaika Menakaya: fearfully and wonderfully made

In fearfully and wonderfully made, 2026 BAXTER ST Resident Artist Dumebi Malaika Menakaya brings together Christian iconography, religious ritual, and the visual language of queer culture.

Rooted in the artist’s upbringing in a Nigerian Christian household, the exhibition derives its title from Psalm 139. Menakaya reinterprets scriptural terminology, positioning queer bodies and spaces as sacred sites of worship. Rather than seeking accommodation within established religious frameworks, the work presents queer community and ritual as sacred traditions in their own right.

Throughout the exhibition, familiar gestures take on new meanings. An image of a dancer voguing in his bedroom recalls both the crucifixion and a dip from ballroom culture. A diptych juxtaposing a communion wafer placed on a bare back with a bloodstained bedsheet offers another reading of the Christian sacrament. Bedrooms, nightclubs, and outdoor gathering spaces emerge as places of sanctuary, intimacy, and collective worship.

Through chiaroscuro, obscuration, and carefully considered compositions, Menakaya explores the relationship between light and spiritual experience. The exhibition’s installation features variations in scale and placement that encourage visitors to move physically through the work, evoking gestures of prayer, from bowing one’s head to raising one’s gaze. The presentation culminates in quieter, more intimate photographs.

https://www.baxterst.org/events/fearfully-and-wonderfully-made/