Derek Fordjour is an interdisciplinary artist whose work grappes with race, political insubordination, inequality, and American society. Fordjour explores these complex themes through imagery from carnivals, parades, and other celebratory settings. In 2018, Fordjour rose to prominence after he was commissioned by the Whitney Museum to create a mural near its building in New York City. The mural, Half Mast (2018), shows a colorful crowd of bustling people—some reduced to rifle targets, others holding condolence balloons and teddy bears—as a commentary on the United States’s mass shooting epidemic. Fordjour’s practice spans murals, installations, large-scale sculpture, and painting, and is stylistically notable for its layered textures and materials.