This artist uses nails, gold, plants, and flowers to capture the ‘aura of Blackness’
Artist Uses Nails and Gold to Capture the ‘Aura of Blackness’
This artist uses nails gold plants – Alexis Peskine, a French-born artist, creates striking pieces that blend nails and gold to evoke the ‘aura of Blackness’. His studio in Issy-les-Moulineaux is a testament to this unique vision, where the sound of hammers and amapiano music intertwine, forming a rhythmic backdrop to his labor. When he steps back from his work, the scattered nails form a haunting silhouette—black faces or bodies, their surfaces glistening with gold leaf, as if bathed in sunlight.
A Vision Through Diverse Mediums
Peskine’s artistic repertoire spans photography, filmmaking, and mixed-media installations. His most notable works, however, are his towering, three-dimensional portraits crafted from thousands of nails. These nails, embedded into naturally dyed wood and colored with materials like mud or coffee, depict the faces of the African diaspora. His latest series, Ouro Verde, or “green gold” in Portuguese, delves into traditional healing practices and ancestral spirituality, using nails and gold as central motifs.
He describes his art as a celebration of Black culture, using nails and gold to symbolize resilience and radiance. “To see the beauty of our cultures, of our ancestral ways of healing,” he emphasizes, highlighting how the gold leaf represents the light that reflects Blackness. This technique, rooted in his heritage, serves as a modern reimagining of historical practices that endured despite erasure.
Roots in a Cultural Mosaic
Peskine’s background is as rich as his art. Growing up with a Franco-Russian Jewish father and a Brazilian mother from Salvador de Bahia—a city where 80% of the population identifies as Black or mixed race—shaped his understanding of identity. His mother’s Afro-Brazilian traditions and his father’s European roots created a cultural blend that influences his work. This duality is evident in how he uses nails and gold to explore themes of heritage and belonging.
Standing at 6-foot-5-inches, Peskine is a former basketball player who speaks five languages. His travels across 33 African countries deepened his connection to the continent’s traditions. However, his journey in France wasn’t without challenges. Discrimination there, combined with his time at Howard University, where he encountered the historical struggles of the African diaspora, reinforced his focus on “pure diaspora” through his art.
Techniques and Spiritual Symbolism
Peskine’s creative process is both meticulous and organic. He starts by translating photographs into dot patterns, inspired by silk-screen printing but inverted. Instead of light on dark, he uses dark silhouettes with light nails, each representing a cultural element. These nails, varying in size and depth, are embedded into wood panels dyed with natural pigments, creating a textured surface that mimics the warmth of human skin.
Each piece is a fusion of art and ritual. The nails and gold evoke grounding and resilience, drawing parallels to the Minkisi Nkondi, ancient Kongo figurines believed to hold spiritual power. Peskine sees his work as a continuation of these practices, with gold leaf symbolizing the enduring light of Blackness and nails representing the strength of ancestral ties.
A Personal Journey Through Resilience
During a residency in Cameroon in April 2022, Peskine’s health took a dramatic turn. He contracted cerebral malaria, which led to a three-week hospitalization and a three-day coma. “I didn’t see a white light,” he recalls, “but I woke up to the sound of samba music, as if people were playing in the next room.” This moment, intertwined with his heritage, reinvigorated his artistic mission.
The samba rhythms, originating from Bahia, where his mother is from, echo the West African drum traditions brought to Brazil during the slave trade. Reflecting on this, Peskine believes the music may have been ancestral guidance. This experience solidified his commitment to spiritual practices, leading him to seek initiation into Candomblé, an Afro-Brazilian religion deeply connected to the same traditions that inspire his use of nails and gold.
“The gold isn’t just decoration—it’s a metaphor for the light that reflects our cultures’ beauty.”
Impact and Legacy
Peskine’s work challenges perceptions of Black identity, using nails and gold to bridge the past and present. By embedding nails into dyed wood, he creates visual narratives that celebrate the African diaspora’s enduring legacy. The gold leaf, applied atop the nails, adds a layer of elegance and symbolism, representing the luminous qualities of Blackness. His latest collection, Ouro Verde, is a testament to this, blending ancestral practices with contemporary art to captivate audiences.
Through his art, Peskine aims to elevate Blackness, using nails and gold as tools to highlight its beauty and resilience. His journey from basketball to visual art reflects a commitment to honoring his heritage, while his global travels and cultural background continue to shape his unique perspective. As he explains, his work is not only a reflection of identity but also a celebration of the enduring strength of Black cultures.