Njideka Akunyili Crosby 

Small-small Palava, 2025

A new lithograph by Njideka Akunyili Crosby, titled Small-small Palava, is now available in an edition of 200. Published by Utopia Editions, each print is signed and numbered by the artist and accompanied by her monograph from David Zwirner Books.

Small-small Palava features a self-portrait of the artist peering over her right shoulder, a composition which is drawn from a major early work titled I Refuse to be Invisible (2010). Here Akunyili Crosby has reimagined the portrait in the print medium as the focal point of a monochrome image. 
 
This work is the artist’s first lithograph. Working closely with master printer Cole Rogers of C&C Editions in Minneapolis over several months, she used the technique to achieve subtle gradations of monochrome between the figure and ground. Revisiting the image in lithography allowed Akunyili Crosby to explore the boundaries of information and clarity within a compressed value range, which is a concept she continues to explore in her work across mediums. Here, she has meticulously built up value with a lithographic pencil on a finely grained lithographic stone, allowing the subject’s distinct edges to emerge against the background. 
 
The accompanying monograph is the first dedicated publication on Akunyili Crosby’s work and brings together nearly fifty paintings made between 2010 and 2023. New texts by Jareh Das, Helen Molesworth, Jason Rosenfeld, and Drew Thompson explore her visual language and material practice, her mixing of Western and Nigerian imagery and forms, and her use of photography in portraiture and figuration. 
 
The print and monograph are presented together in a custom clamshell box designed specifically for this edition. The box is fully lined in cloth and finished with refined foil detailing, while the lithograph is housed in a matching cloth-covered and paper-lined folder with ribbon closure. Please note the print is not framed.