Cenìnye (b. 2002, Monrovia, Liberia) is an artist working between Chicago and Boston. His
practice explores identity, memory, and faith as it sits within the photographic object. 

Portraiture, within Black Speculative Histories, fascinates him. 
Contact


Solo Exhibitions 

2025  “I know not how to be me,” 
Ishibashi Gallery at Middlesex School, Concord, MA
2025  “Here: A New Discovery,” 
SITE Galleries, Chicago, IL
2023  “Da First Showcase,” 
Tufts University, Boston, MA
2020  “MXFAM: MY VOICE. MY POWER.,”
Ishibashi Gallery at Middlesex School, Concord, MA

Group Exhibitions 

2025  “Drown-Proofing,” Epiphany Center for the Arts, Chicago, IL
2025  “night sweat day glow,” Mayfield, Chicago, IL
2025  “New Works,” School of the Art Institute, Chicago, IL
2024  “Letters Beyond Form: Chicago Types,” Design Museum of Chicago, Chicago, IL
2024  “Subversive Pleasures: Mapping the Problematic,” School of the Art Institute, Chicago, IL
2024  “we are our own healers”, School of the Art Institute, Chicago, IL
2024  “Black Creativity Juried Art,” Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago, IL
2024  “Confront,” School of the Art Institute, Chicago, IL 
2023  “Black Harvest Film Festival,” Gene Siskel Film Center, Chicago, IL
2023  “for: evergreen,” Tufts University, Boston, MA, (Curator) 
2022  “28th Annual Juried Members Show,” Griffin Museum of Photography, Winchester, MA
2022  “Through These Realities,” Boston, MA

Collections

Diasporal Rhythms, Chicago, IL
Joan Flasch Artist Book Collection, Chicago, IL

Awards

2023 MLK Student Voices Award, Tufts University
2021 U.S Presidential Scholar in the Arts
2021 Finalist in Photography, National YoungArts Foundation
2019 Winner, New York Times Second Annual Student Photo Contest
2019 Thoreau Medal for Best Portfolio, Middlesex School

Features

WBEZCHICAGO | LENSCRATCH | PhotoVogue | New York Times | College Board | Booooooom Magazine | Der Grief | ArtConnect | Feature Shoot | Tufts Now | What Will You Remember | Concord Journal | and more

ceninye.com

works

1.  Perhaps Here,
2.  Untitled (“American Portraits”)
3.  Self Portraits As An American Optimist.
commissionsabout  

God is good
all the time.


© 2026 Cenìnye.  All  Rights Reserved.
 I do not dream of being a rich man.  
I dream of Liberia.  
of my mother, of my brother,  
of a boy running on golden sand,  

and I know for absolute certain that God’s there.