Portrait painter Kehinde Wiley was born on February 28, 1977 in Los Angeles, California. Kehinde describes his artwork as “heroic portraits which address the image and status of young African-American men in contemporary culture”.
In 2017, Kehinde became the first Black artist chosen to paint an American President’s portrait when he was asked to paint Barack Obama for the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery.
The West African name Kehinde comes from the Yoruba language spoken by people native to Nigeria, Benin, and Togo. Kehinde was born to an African-American mother and a Yoruba father.
In Yoruba culture, the name Kehinde is traditionally given to the second born of a set of twins, meaning “one who falls behind”. Kehinde is in fact a twin, and his brother is named Taiwo, which is traditionally given to the elder twin counterpart.
Here’s an American pronouncing Kehinde Wiley’s name.
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Name of the Day: Ansel
Photographer Ansel Easton Adams was born on February 20, 1902 in San Francisco. Known for his black-and-white photos of the American West, Ansel played a key role in developing a system of image-making called the Zone System. Ansel was also an avid environmentalist advocate