by Aida Amoako, HYPERALLERGIC. Davis portrayed scenes in which Black people could truly recognize themselves, eschewing stereotypical depictions and imbuing his subjects with a sense of the surreal. In his brief life, Noah Davis both built and revealed worlds, relishing the freedom that comes with “painting to create your own universe,” as he once said “Emphasis on your own.”
by Janet Hill Talbert, aperture. Smith’s poetic and experimental images are icons of twentieth-century Black life. In an interview, she speaks about her life and career—and the transcendent power of photography. After college, she moved to New York to pursue a career as a photographer. In 1979, the Museum of Modern Art, New York, purchased several of Smith’s photographs, making her the first African American female photographer with that distinction.
by Rhea L. Combs, The Brooklyn Rail. In 2024 Tyler Mitchell traveled to coastal Georgia to create a new body of work. He scouted a number of locations, but when he returned to make photographs he gave his subjects minimal direction. Mitchell’s intent was to discover moments occurring naturally, spontaneously, and in that way to create photographs that communicate in a layered, complex fashion.
Last December, Margot Kotler sat down with Alexis Pauline Gumbs to discuss her most recent book, Survival is a Promise: The Eternal Life of Audre Lorde (Macmillan, 2024). They talked about the breadth of Lorde’s life and the need to think on a planetary scale, the collective work of autobiography, and the work of a poet in Black feminist science.
a short film about the weight of it all and the wellness we create, written & directed by Esther A. Armah featuring Beverley Prentice-Thomas. Esther A. Armah, a 2022 CBVC Distinguished Activist in Residence, former international award-winning journalist, playwright, author and creator of the racial healing framework, Emotional Justice, screens her debut short film in New York this month. The special screening is followed by dialogue and has limited seating, RSVP
Spend an afternoon enjoying art-making inspired by the exhibition, WORKING KNOWLEDGE: Shared Imaginings, New Futures. Activities led by Bronx Museum Educators are free, fun for all ages and accessible to families with young children. Drop-ins are welcome.
Whitney Museum of American Art. Amy Sherald: American Sublime brings together some fifty paintings by one of the foremost artists of our time. In her first major museum survey, Amy Sherald (b. 1973, Columbus, Georgia; lives and works in the New York City area) presents work from 2007 to the present, from her poetic early portraits to the incisive and moving figure paintings for which she is best known.
Venus Over Manhattan. Venus Over Manhattan is pleased to present Elizabeth Colomba, the artist’s debut solo exhibition with the gallery. The exhibition provides a comprehensive look at Colomba’s distinctive approach to figurative painting, featuring a selection of new and recent paintings and works on paper—most of which have never been shown publicly.
Mariane Ibrahim. Mariane Ibrahim is honored to present Lorraine O’Grady, the artist’s first solo exhibition in Paris and her second with the gallery. This special presentation, the first since O’Grady’s passing in December 2024, aims to celebrate the artist’s extraordinary legacy.
Reception & Artist in Conversation with Makeda Best, May 10, 2025. Wendel A. White’s inaugural exhibition, Schools for the Colored & Manifest, presents photographs carefully selected from a larger portfolio of the same name. Schools for the Colored looks at the physical structures – both standing and demolished – of segregated schools of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois.