KING COBRA subverts the white persona in new solo exhibition

Sikkema Malloy Jenkins is presenting Heathens, a solo exhibition by KING COBRA, on view in the back galleries from March 27 through May 2, 2026. Heathens is COBRA’s first exhibition at the gallery. KING COBRA’s visceral sculptural and performance works confront the dimensions of consumption and perversion that underscore histories of colonial violence and racial subjugation. Utilizing synthetic and organic materials, COBRA produces corporeal forms that bear the condition of whiteness as a festering wound—one often sugarcoated or concealed but ultimately sustained through the spiritual and physical cannibalism of bodies deemed “other,” and the Black body in particular. Melding medical pathologies and abject imagery with kink culture, COBRA’s work interrogates not just how power is constructed, but also how it may be dissected, subdued, and debased. Heathens features an installation of sculptural objects and a kink film, screened on a reclaimed vintage telev