“As Monica L. Miller and Andrew Bolton have been busy preparing “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style,” the new show at The Met’s Costume Institute, Vogue made a parallel effort: a tribute to the exhibition and a celebration of its themes of menswear, identity and history, the Black dandy in fashion, and his many expressions and forms.
April 25, 10:00 am – 5:00 pm. Michelson Theater, 721 Broadway. What does blackness mean in the context of art criticism? Formal element? Lived experience? Race? How might blackness be conceived in terms not exclusively bound to the sociological and questions of positive/negative, authenticity, truth, or essence? Centering the work of scholars devoted to black visual and expressive culture, this concentration of black study considers the multivalence and critical consequence of blackness as an aesthetic and cultural idea enacted through and across the arts (e.g., literature, film, performance, contemporary art, and music).
1977 – 2025. Nona Faustine, a photographer who used her work to highlight the perseverance of Black women, has passed away at 48. In ways both provocative and beautiful, Faustine’s photography explored conditions afflicting Black women across time. She frequently photographed herself in ways that considered how her body acted as a record of histories of exploitation and empowerment.
Anne Collins Smith was appointed chief curator at the New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA). Smith is the first Black person to lead NOMA’s curatorial department. Smith leads NOMA’s collection and exhibition initiatives and manages the institution’s team of curators, conservators, and collections staff. She is responsible for the museum’s modern and contemporary art presentations, adding significant expertise in African American art.
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.