WATER MILL, N.Y. — Artist Sanford Biggers is presenting his first solo museum exhibition on Long Island’s East End with “Sanford Biggers: Drift” at the Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill. The show, which opened recently, draws inspiration from the region’s natural environment—particularly its clouds and sky—and explores themes of history, identity, and cultural memory.

Biggers, who grew up in Los Angeles and later spent three years in Japan studying Buddhist traditions, has long incorporated cloud imagery into his work. He describes clouds as symbols of “infinite potential and un-fixedness,” invoking the Buddhist idea of an awakened mind progressing toward enlightenment. At the Parrish, eight cloud sculptures from his earlier series “Unsui,” first installed at Brown University in 2025, are displayed alongside two newer works at the museum entrance. These illuminated aluminum and acrylic forms reflect Biggers’s engagement with a wide range of artistic traditions, including European, American, and Japanese influences.

“Drift” continues Biggers’s investigation of absence and presence, challenging established narratives about the East End’s artistic legacy. In an email, he wrote that the exhibition “asks us to consider who has been included in that narrative and who has not,” highlighting how histories of cultural production often marginalize certain voices. This focus is reinforced by the show’s connection to African American history on Long Island, including the region's ties to the Atlantic slave trade, and the enduring legacies of segregation—particularly in historically Black vacation communities such as Azurest, Sag Harbor Hills, and Ninevah Beach. These enclaves were founded during the segregation era to provide upper-class Black professionals access to leisure, despite systemic real estate discrimination.

A centerpiece of the exhibition is “Adrift,” a large sand painting created in the Zen Buddhist tradition that will be intentionally dispersed at the conclusion of the show, symbolizing impermanence. Nearby stands “Mirror,” a marble sculpture referencing the erosion of color and form over time, embodying themes of transformation and loss.

Biggers’s extensive quilt collection is also featured in “Drift.” These works, created with techniques including spray-painting, dyeing, embroidery, and collage, draw on historical and cultural sources ranging from the minstrelsy tradition and Op Art to origami and botanical prints. Although he acknowledges the contested history around quilts serving as coded signals on the Underground Railroad, Biggers views them as powerful symbols of resilience and liberation, operating as coded visual language bridging fact and belief.

The exhibition aligns with Parrish’s yearlong 150th anniversary celebration, “Parrish 250: Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness,” reflecting Biggers’s ongoing engagement with issues of constitutional rights and racial justice. He maintains a large studio in the Bronx, where he collaborates with a team to manage multiple projects, including his recent Chelsea gallery show, “The Gift of Tongues.”

Biggers’s connection to the Hamptons has deepened over the years. Initially introduced to the area in 2011 through events hosted by hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons, his interest grew through research into the contributions of African Americans to local industries like whaling and farming. His 2016 marriage to Arana Hankin, whose family has longstanding roots in the Azurest community, further cemented his ties to the region. Their family home—a modernist house open to the landscape—embodies these layered histories and experiences, serving as a personal anchor for Biggers’s artistic explorations.

“Drift” remains on view at the Parrish through the year, offering a multifaceted meditation on cultural memory, transformation, and the power of art to challenge and expand narratives of history and place.