by Omnia Saed, Photographs by Vanessa Diaz and Caroline Castro, Atmos “As a scholar engaged in this work, and as one of the very few Black archaeologists in the world—especially those of us who dive and study the Black Atlantic—I can’t think of a single one
by Jessic Testa, New York Times. “For me, an outfit can always help with something. It goes back to the confidence point. You put on an outfit, it’s almost like a super-suit in some ways. Then you step on the court and you imagine yourself being able to do anything.”
by Tracy Smith, CBS News. “Like all great artists, she has an understanding, a grasp of what great historical artists are doing, and she’s saying, ‘Okay, I’m gonna turn that around, I’m going to make that my own,’” said Joanne Heyler, founding director of the Broad Museum in Los Angeles, home to the exhibition,
by Haja Marie Kanu, avantarte. Conceptual artist Hank Willis Thomas explores success, power and oppression, specifically, how these ideas play out in the legacy of African American Olympian, Jesse Owens. “Hank’s upcoming edition “salutes that most famous of his four wins at the 1936 Olympics” – the 100m dash.
by Colony Little, ArtNews. The 1767 Chowan County Courthouse is the site of an installation, Memorable Proof, by artist Letitia Huckaby that is part of the “Harriet Jacobs Project,” an ongoing initiative directed by Michelle Lanier and curated by Johnica Rivers.
Edges of Ailey, opening at the Whitney Museum of American Art on September 25, is the first large-scale museum exhibition to celebrate the life, dances, influences, and enduring legacy of visionary artist and choreographer Alvin Ailey (b. 1931, Rogers, Texas; d. 1989, New York, New York).
by Stephen Bell, Harpers Bazaar. “Invariably, when people start to garden, they grow food first. But in every civilized civilization that you can think of, where [there] is the garden, it’s because they have enough to eat.
By Maurice Berger. The Vision & Justice Book Series, a groundbreaking endeavor conceived by Sarah Elizabeth Lewis and published by Aperture, is designed to address past omissions and contribute to the ongoing work of building a richer, more racially inclusive story of lensbased practices. An extension of the work of the award-winning 2016 “Vision & Justice” issue of Aperture magazine, the Book Series centers the work of leading lensbased Black artists and related scholars and writers who have been vital to understanding the role of images in generating equity and justice in America.
by Brian Boucher, artnet. Launched by artists Wyatt Gallery, Eric Gottesman, Hank Willis Thomas, and Michelle Woo, the richly illustrated book Where Do We Go From Here? documents every billboard the artist collective and activist group For Freedoms has commissioned.
The 14th iteration of Black Portraitures is now available to watch on Youtube. Black Portraitures: Shifting Paradigms took place over two days during the vernissage of the 60th Anniversary of the Venice Biennale. This year’s theme, Shifting Paradigms, centered thought leaders from Africa and the African Diaspora who are creating new models for the education, cultivation, exhibition, dissemination, and collection of art and images.