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Elijah Mckenzie-Jackson

@elijahmckenziejackson

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OUT NOW BLUE 📘 my debut book
Co-founder WaicUp.org
Contact: [email protected]

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Some things take years to find the right words for. Blue is that for me.

This July, my debut book will be published—8 chapters, 8 passages stitched into one extended essay exploring identity, mental health, queerness, climate action, and what it means to come of age in a world turned upside down.

It’s part story, part study, part open letter to anyone who's ever felt out of place in a world that asks you to shrink.
I wrote Blue to hold the weight of what I couldn’t always say aloud:
What it felt like to lead a movement at 15.
What it meant to grow up in a queer family.
What it means to live through grief—both planetary and personal—and still choose hope.

This is the most vulnerable thing I’ve ever made.

Blue is yours on July 10th, printing with Olympia Publishers.
You can read more and pre-order through the link in my bio.

Thanks for walking with me. More soon.
—Elijah by @elijahmckenziejackson

Still finding the words, but here goes. I’ve been named one of @attitudemag’s 101 Trailblazers, Class of ’26!!

Under 25s. Painter, author, activist. I’m really grateful. We are changing the world, bit by bit, with this group @greenpartyzack @catburns @marissa_edob @noahschnapp @mitchbrownie

LOVE WINS. LOVE WINS. LOVE WINS

Cheers & much love. x by @elijahmckenziejackson

“THE BALLROOM ACROSS 6TH AVENUE” MY SOLO EXHIBITION IS LIVEEEEEEEEEEEEEE RIGHT NOWWWWWWWWWWW AHHHHHHHHHH🥹🥹🥹 cannot believe i’m typing this rn 🫣 six oil portraits all painted from life at the clinton global initiative, the president and the server on the same wall at the same size :PPP i can’t wait for you to see them all together. go look go look go look. 💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙

now showing online in partnership with @behindtheartistt, link in bio by @elijahmckenziejackson

THE NAT Gala. New York City. Philanthropy has always been important to me, and supporting an event like this feels especially meaningful as we work to close the nature funding gap. Special thanks to @gail__gallie, @jaylipman, @amybryson, and @thenat____. by @elijahmckenziejackson

The Founder (Elaine Welteroth)
2025 to 2026
Oil on canvas, 36 x 40 in.
From the series The Ballroom Across 6th Avenue

Painting 2 of 6.

Capital backs. The state frames. A founder begins.

Painted from life, in the middle of the summit. by @elijahmckenziejackson

I’ve been wrestling with the idea that the use of state portraiture has been to lend power its monumentality. Velázquez painted one king for thirty years so a dynasty would stay legible. Stuart copied one Washington until it became money. Images were slow, so the order behind them looked slow too.

Now power arrives as a feed, and it’s very rare that anything holds still. So I painted six people from one room, at one time, in one blue. Behind them, stripes that read as a flag from one angle and as bars from another.

I’m the sixth one. What is a portrait for when the thing it was built to hold won’t stay still? The Ballroom Across 6th Avenue. Opens October 7 with @behindtheartistt. by @elijahmckenziejackson

The President (Bill Clinton)
2025 to 2026
Oil on canvas, 36 x 40 in.
From the series The Ballroom Across 6th Avenue by @elijahmckenziejackson

I painted the president, Bill Clinton, from life.

I’ve been invited to rooms where power operates at its most concentrated; historical philanthropic achievements happen alongside a quieter choreography of who’s in the room, where they stand within it, and who is not.

Starting off with sketches published in 2024, I pondered over how to capture what I also felt in these spaces, less as a journalist, less as an activist, more as an observer, how each person in that room follows an archetype that their identity has been mythologized by, through their own eyes and the eyes that label them.

Unlike traditional sittings, I met with Bill in motion, observing him from the stage and following him through fast-paced meeting rooms. I painted strokes and captured visual references, lots of them at once. In a way, the urgency of the process mirrored the environment itself: an ecosystem conditioned to demand rapid, immediate results.

This is painting 1 of 6 in The Ballroom Across 6th Avenue, Two Floors Up, 10:30 Sharp, a series mapping power, one archetype at a time: the president, the nominee, the billionaire, the founder, the worker, the artist. Same room. Same hour. Six completely different realities. by @elijahmckenziejackson

becoming my painting by @elijahmckenziejackson

by @elijahmckenziejackson

some news. officially represented by the american program bureau for lectures and appearances. i’ve never really chased the stage. i’d rather spend my time doing the work than talking about it. but it feels like the right time to use my voice a bit more and share what i’ve learned along the way. speaking inquiries via the link in my bio. by @elijahmckenziejackson

NEW YORK CITY | LONDON | ROTTERDAM
exhibition officially wrapped. by @elijahmckenziejackson