From Cannes to Chicago, Leiden to Lagos, we are tracing the expanding terrain of Black artistic and cultural production in film, literature, contemporary art, and public memory. At the Cannes Film Festival, African filmmakers command increasing international attention with works exploring trauma, migration, labor, and intimacy. In Chicago, Carrie Mae Weems prepares a major public commission for the Obama Presidential Center. Elsewhere, writers of African and diasporic descent continue to gain recognition on global literary stages, and new exhibitions examine how Caribbean music, restitution, and cultural inheritance continue to shape contemporary artistic discourse. Together, these stories reflect a cultural landscape marked by movement, return, experimentation, and the continued reshaping of history through art.

Carrie Mae Weems Unveils Major Public Art Commission for Obama Presidential Center

American artist Carrie Mae Weems will debut a new large-scale public artwork at the Obama Presidential Center when the campus opens on Chicago’s South Side in June 2026. Titled The Cool Blue Wind, the commission forms part of the Obama Foundation’s expanded cultural programming exploring memory, civic life, and collective experience.

The installation combines photographic collages printed on metallic surfaces with shifting blue tonalities alongside an original sound composition. Drawing inspiration from the cultural resonance of Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential election, the work also uses jazz as a conceptual structure, invoking improvisation, rhythm, and collective listening as ways of thinking through history.

Across the piece, fragmented photographs unfold like musical sequences, creating a layered meditation on remembrance and public imagination. Sound operates as both atmosphere and connective tissue, extending the work beyond static imagery into an immersive spatial experience.

Weems joins a major roster of artists commissioned for the 19.3-acre campus, including Mark Bradford, Theaster Gates, Julie Mehretu, Maya Lin, and Jenny Holzer.

Designed as a civic and cultural hub, the Obama Presidential Center will include museum galleries, gardens, public programs, athletic facilities, and a presidential library. Within that broader vision, Weems’s commission stands as a reflection on how image, sound, and shared cultural memory continue to shape public life.

African Cinema Expands Its Reach at Cannes 2026

The Cannes Film Festival has once again turned its attention toward African cinema, with this year’s schedule bringing together an ambitious mix of first-time filmmakers, established auteurs, and cross-continental productions that reflect the growing global appetite for African storytelling.

The 2026 edition features films from Rwanda, Nigeria, Morocco, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and beyond, many screening within the festival’s influential Un Certain Regard section. The increased visibility arrives at a moment when international demand for African and diaspora film continues to outpace supply, according to recent research by Next Narrative Africa Fund and Parrot Analytics, which identified the United States as the single largest market for African screen content.

Among this year’s most historic selections is Ben’Imana by Rwandan filmmaker Marie-Clémentine Dusabejambo, the first feature by a Rwandan director to premiere in Cannes’ Official Selection. Set in the aftermath of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi, the film examines intergenerational trauma, forgiveness, and silence through the story of a survivor confronting her daughter’s unexpected pregnancy. Thierry Frémaux, artistic director of Cannes, described the work as “an amazing work of cinema.”

Nigeria also returns prominently to the Croisette with Clarissa, the sophomore feature from Nigerian-born brothers Arie Esiri and Chuko Esiri. Reimagining Mrs. Dalloway within contemporary Nigeria, the film stars Sophie Okonedo, David Oyelowo, Ayo Edebiri, and Nikki Amuka-Bird. Shot across Lagos, Delta State, and northern landscapes, the film explores memory, intimacy, and social performance through a gathering in Lagos where old relationships resurface.

Elsewhere, Moroccan filmmaker Laïla Marrakchi returns to Un Certain Regard with Strawberries (La plus douce), a drama inspired by reports of exploitation faced by Moroccan women working as seasonal fruit pickers in Spain. Blending social realism with questions of migration, labor, and gendered violence, the film follows workers who organize legal action against abusive employers.

Beyond premieres, Cannes 2026 also signals deeper institutional investment in African cinema. During the festival’s official press conference, Frémaux highlighted ongoing support for a national cinema center project in Kinshasa led by Congolese filmmaker Dieudo Hamadi, framing it as part of a broader commitment to world cinema.

As African film industries continue expanding across both local and international markets, this year’s Cannes lineup reflects a continent increasingly shaping the future of global cinema on its own terms.

Symposium in Leiden Examines Memory, Restitution, and the Afterlife of Cultural Loss

Artists, scholars, curators, and writers gathered in Leiden, Netherlands, on May 20 for Another Gathering: The Beauty We Inherit, a symposium exploring the cultural and spiritual implications of restitution and absence in the wake of colonial looting.

Held at Wereldmuseum Leiden, the gathering was organized within the framework of the exhibition Back to Benin: New Art, Ancient Legacy, curated by Aude Christel Mgba and currently on view at Museum de Fundatie until June 7, 2026.

The exhibition brings together ten contemporary artists of Edo heritage in dialogue with Ama O Ghe Ehen, an 18th-century Benin bronze plaque recently restituted from the Netherlands to Benin. While recent years have seen increasing return of looted Benin objects, the symposium centered on the deeper ruptures created by colonial extraction — historical, spiritual, artistic, and emotional.

Participants included Isaac Emokpae, Mistura Allison, Satch Hoyt, Bhavisha Panchia, Renee Akitelek Mboya, and Kokunre Agbontaen-Eghafona, among others.

Through screenings, lectures, performances, and conversations, the symposium asked how absence itself might become a site of knowledge, imagination, and renewed cultural relations. The event also arrives amid ongoing restitution efforts by the Wereldmuseum Leiden, which formally agreed to return 119 Benin Bronzes to Nigeria in February 2025.

Lisa-Anne Julien Wins Commonwealth Short Story Prize for Africa

South African-based writer Lisa-Anne Julien has won the Africa regional prize at the 2026 Commonwealth Short Story Prize for her story Me and Ma’am, a nuanced portrait of intimacy, labor, and class relations between a domestic worker and her employer.

Set over the course of a single workday, the story follows a domestic worker navigating the emotional complexities, boundaries, and contradictions embedded within domestic labor. Judges praised the work for balancing humor, introspection, and emotional precision while moving beyond familiar racial frameworks often associated with South African class narratives.

Originally from Trinidad and Tobago, Julien has lived in Johannesburg for over two decades. Speaking after the announcement, she described the story as emerging from the intersection of her Caribbean upbringing and her lived experiences in Africa. “My story is written from this merger.” The Africa regional jury was chaired by South African author Fred Khumalo, who described the winning entry as “a story about women looking out for each other.”

Julien’s previous novel, If You Save Me, won the University of Johannesburg’s 2022 Debut Prize for Fiction. Her work has also appeared in the Caribbean literary magazine Pree, while her residencies include programs with Femrite, Yale Writers, and the Jakes Gerwel Foundation.

The overall Commonwealth Short Story Prize winner will be announced on June 30, with all five regional winners set to be published by Granta ahead of the ceremony.

Four Black Writers Shortlisted for 2026 VCU Cabell First Novelist Award

The 2026 VCU Cabell First Novelist Award shortlist has been announced, with four Black writers recognized for debut novels that span questions of identity, inheritance, history, and belonging.

The shortlisted authors include Stephanie Wambugu for Lonely Crowds, Olufunke Grace Bankole for The Edge of Water, Rickey Fayne for The Devil Three Times, and Rob Franklin for Great Black Hope.

Presented annually by Virginia Commonwealth University, the prize honors an outstanding debut novel published in the previous calendar year. Named after early twentieth-century American writer James Branch Cabell, the award recognizes emerging writers whose work expands the possibilities of fiction and imaginative storytelling.

The $5,000 award has previously gone to writers including Raven Leilani, Ling Ma, and Hernán Diaz.

This year’s winner will be announced in June or July following a selection process involving MFA students, the First Novelist Committee, and the previous year’s recipient.

Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago Explores Dancehall and Reggaetón as Political Histories

The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago has opened an exciting show titled Dancing the Revolution, a major group exhibition tracing the political, spiritual, and cultural histories of dancehall and reggaetón through contemporary art.

Curated by Carla Acevedo-Yates alongside Iris Colburn, Nolan Jimbo, Cecilia González Godino, and Nibia Pastrana Santiago, the exhibition examines how Caribbean music cultures emerged from grassroots communities before becoming global forms tied to resistance, migration, sexuality, and liberation.

The exhibition spans painting, installation, photography, sound sculpture, and video, featuring more than forty artists, including Isaac Julien, Alberta Whittle, Carolina Caycedo, Edra Soto, and reggae pioneer Lee Scratch Perry.

Moving across cities including Kingston, San Juan, London, New York, Toronto, and Panama City, Dancing the Revolution positions sound system culture and Caribbean musical circulation as vital frameworks for understanding contemporary social and political life.

Dancing the Revolution is on view until September 20, 2026.

Exhibitions to See

Denilson Baniwa: Yawara Akanga | Gentil Carioca | On view till May 23, 2026 | São Paulo, Brazil

Brush Tu: Handle with Care | Circle Art Gallery | On view till May 29, 2026 | Nairobi, Kenya

Between Here and Elsewhere: A New Generation Steps Forward | Group exhibition at Javett Art Centre | On view until August, 2026 | Pretoria, South Africa 

Dancing the Revolution | Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago | On view till September 20, 2026 | Chicago, Illinois

M’barek Bouhchichi: Hands that Remember |  Antananarivo, Madagascar | On view till October 17,  2026

Compiled by Roli O’tsemaye

The post This Week in Black Art and Culture (May 17 – 23, 2026) appeared first on Sugarcane Magazine ™| Black Art Magazine.

1-54 New York Turns Its Focus to Afro-Brazilian Art

Afro-Brazilian art takes a major step into global focus this week as the 2026 edition of the 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair in New York unveils its first-ever curated section dedicated entirely to Black Brazilian artists.

Titled 1-54 Presents: Brazil Beyond Brazil, the new platform brings together artists including Ana Claudia Almeida, Rebeca Carapiá, Jaime Lauriano, Luana Vitra, No Martins, and Lidia Lisbôa in a presentation shaped by Brazilian curator and scholar Igor Simões. Rather than offering a singular narrative of Afro-Brazilian identity, the exhibition foregrounds the complexity, contradictions, and layered histories embedded within Black Brazilian experience.

The section emerged following a 2025 research trip to São Paulo organized by 1-54 alongside ISE-DA, Latitude, and Cutuca Projetos Culturais. During the visit, collectors and cultural professionals met with Black Brazilian artists, curators, and institutions, sparking conversations around visibility, exclusion, and the persistent exoticization of Afro-Brazilian art within global art discourse.

For 1-54 founder Touria El Glaoui, the initiative signals a deliberate widening of the fair’s diasporic focus, following previous spotlights on Caribbean and African American practices. More significantly, it attempts to reposition Afro-Brazilian artists from the margins to the center of contemporary conversations around Black art history, migration, memory, and transatlantic identity.

 Venice Biennale, In Minor Keys Breathes Through Ruins and Gardens

The 2026 Venice Biennale recently opened with In Minor Keys, the final exhibition conceived by the late Cameroonian-Swiss curator Koyo Kouoh before her death in 2025 — a sprawling and emotionally charged meditation on survival, ecology, spirituality, and collective memory.

Completed posthumously by her advisory team, the exhibition gathers 110 artists and collectives across the Giardini and Arsenale, including Otobong Nkanga, Theo Eshetu, Akinbode Akinbiyi, Seyni Awa Camara, and Walid Raad. Together, their works navigate environmental collapse, migration, colonial violence, and the emotional residue of fractured histories.

Yet In Minor Keys is not driven solely by catastrophe. True to Kouoh’s curatorial philosophy, the exhibition insists on storytelling, sound, ritual, and celebration as necessary strategies for endurance. Gardens, archives, songs, and communal gestures recur throughout the Biennale, transforming it into a space where tenderness and political urgency coexist.

The exhibition also highlights the importance of artist-led ecosystems, featuring institutions and collectives such as Guest Artists Space Foundation, Nairobi Contemporary Art Institute, and Ghana’s blaxTARLINES. In doing so, Kouoh extends her long-standing commitment to infrastructure that sustains artistic communities beyond the traditional centers of power.

Already one of the Biennale’s most discussed exhibitions, In Minor Keys stands as both a memorial and a manifesto, a final offering from a curator who consistently reimagined how contemporary art could hold grief, beauty, and resistance in the same breath.

Rare Early Basquiat Works Return to Brooklyn After HBCU Tour

More than four decades after Jean-Michel Basquiat transformed apartment walls, sweatshirts, and scraps into vessels of artistic rebellion, a deeply personal archive of his early life has returned to Brooklyn.

Opening this week at The Bishop Gallery, Our Friend, Jean revisits the years before Basquiat’s meteoric rise, assembling photographs, drawings, writings, and ephemera largely drawn from the archive of Alexis Adler — the artist’s former roommate and close companion between 1979 and 1980.

Originally staged in 2019, the exhibition later traveled to six Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU), becoming the first major Basquiat-focused exhibition to tour HBCU campuses. Institutions including Howard University, Hampton University, and Clark Atlanta University hosted the show, reconnecting Basquiat’s story to the Black intellectual and cultural traditions that shaped him.

For Bishop Gallery founders Erwin John and Stevenson Dunn Jr., the exhibition is as much about authorship as it is about art history. By centering Black Brooklyn curators and audiences, the show attempts to reclaim Basquiat from the mythology that often isolates him from the communities and cultural conditions that formed him.

Now installed inside the Pfizer Building in Bedford-Stuyvesant, the exhibition also marks the soft launch of the Bishop Arts & Research Center (BARC), an initiative aimed at expanding access to overlooked Black archives and HBCU collections.

Rather than presenting Basquiat as an untouchable legend, Our Friend, Jean returns him to something more intimate: a young Black artist still becoming.

South Africa Mourns Cultural Pioneer Maria McCloy

South Africa’s creative industries are mourning the death of cultural pioneer Maria McCloy, who passed away at age 50 after a heart attack in Johannesburg.

For more than three decades, McCloy occupied a rare position within South African popular culture — simultaneously publicist, DJ, creative strategist, fashion figure, and connector of people. Though often behind the scenes, her influence shaped the trajectories of musicians, designers, television personalities, and young creatives navigating the country’s post-apartheid cultural landscape.

Tributes pouring in across social media describe her as a “culture architect” and “foundation stone” of modern South African entertainment. Artists and collaborators recalled her instinct for spotting talent early, opening doors and championing voices before they entered mainstream visibility.

Photographer Trevor Stuurman wrote, “A world without Maria will never feel the same,” while musician Tamara Day remembered her as “sweet, smart, down to earth” and deeply committed to local culture.

Beyond publicity and entertainment, McCloy helped define the visual language of contemporary South African cool — moving fluidly between music, fashion, and youth culture while remaining fiercely committed to local creativity. Her work as a designer and creative entrepreneur further cemented her reputation as one of Johannesburg’s most recognizable cultural figures.

In the flood of mourning, one portrait continues to emerge repeatedly: not simply of a media personality, but of someone who quietly built ecosystems for others to thrive.

Alice Ripoll and Hiltinho Fantástico Explore Concealment in “PUFF”

Brazilian choreographer Alice Ripoll and performer Hiltinho Fantástico are presenting PUFF, a new solo performance that explores concealment as a strategy for cultural survival.

Developed through their long-running collaboration within the SUAVE and REC dance companies, the work merges contemporary choreography with Brazilian urban dance forms, creating a physical language shaped by illusion, fragmentation, and disappearance.

Rather than treating concealment as erasure, PUFF approaches it as transmission — examining how marginalized cultures preserve knowledge, traditions, and coded histories by obscuring them from dominant systems of visibility. Through gesture, rhythm, and embodied transformation, the body itself becomes an archive, a disguise, and a messenger simultaneously.

The title evokes both breath and vanishing: a fleeting movement that appears momentarily before dissolving again. In this way, the performance reflects on cultural memory not as something fixed or fully visible, but as something constantly shifting, hidden, and carried through motion.

The performances take place on May 13 and 14 at Sadler’s Wells Theatre, London.

Mary Lovelace O’Neal, Unruly Master of Abstraction, Dies at 84

Mary Lovelace O’Neal, the fiercely independent American painter whose abstractions resisted both artistic categorization and political expectation, has died at the age of 84.

Across a career spanning more than six decades, Lovelace O’Neal consistently rejected the confines imposed upon Black artists, refusing demands that her work perform legible forms of racial representation. Instead, she pursued expansive, gestural abstraction — producing paintings dense with drips, eruptions, and layered textures that challenged both Minimalist orthodoxy and assumptions about Black art itself.

While studying at Columbia University in the 1960s, Lovelace O’Neal began creating her now-celebrated “lamp black” paintings, rubbing deep black pigment directly into canvases before layering them with pastel gestures. The works simultaneously engaged formal questions around abstraction and broader debates surrounding Blackness in American art.

Her practice later evolved dramatically through projects such as Whales Fucking (1979), inspired by witnessing migrating whales along the California coast — another example of her refusal to remain stylistically fixed.

Though long overlooked by major institutions, recognition came later in life through exhibitions such as the 2024 Whitney Biennial and a widely acclaimed 2020 New York survey. Yet Lovelace O’Neal viewed that delayed visibility as liberation rather than tragedy, allowing her to experiment freely without market expectation.

“I call myself a painter,” she once said. “Being unruly is my nature.”

Exhibitions to See

Venice Biennale | In Minor Keys | Giardini, Arsenale | May 9 – November 22, 2026 | Italy

Art Dubai | May 15 – 17, 2026 | Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai

Woven and Built in Tandem | Rele Gallery | May 9 – June 20, 2026 | Lagos

Our Friend Jean | The Bishop’s Gallery | May 16 | Brooklyn, New York

Nengi Omuku | We Were Like Those Who Dreamed | Pippy Houldsworth Gallery | May 1 – 30, 2026 | London

Compiled by Roli O’tsemaye

The post This Week in Black Art and Culture (May 10 – 16, 2026) appeared first on Sugarcane Magazine ™| Black Art Magazine.

The rhythm of recognition feels unmistakable this week. From Fela Kuti’s historic induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame to Ibrahim Mahama’s latest honor in Kassel, the global art and culture landscape continues to turn its gaze, however gradually, toward Black brilliance and its enduring influence.

Elsewhere, Barbara Chase-Riboud’s refusal of the U.S. pavilion at the Venice Biennale signals deeper tensions within cultural representation. At the same time, the 2026 Art Basel Awards foreground a network of artists, curators, and storytellers shaping contemporary discourse. And beyond institutions, Orchestra Noir reminds us that reinvention often begins at the margins, where new audiences, sounds, and possibilities take form.

Sponsored by the Miami Conventions and Visitors Bureau

Tanka Fonta Awarded 2026 Wi Di Mimba Wi Prize in Berlin

Cameroonian multidisciplinary artist Tanka Fonta has been named the 2026 recipient of the Wi Di Mimba Wi Prize, awarded by SAVVY Contemporary in partnership with AKB Stiftung. The biennial prize comes with €30,000, alongside a year-long program of production and curatorial support in Berlin.

Selected from a shortlist that included Jessica Ekomane, Nnenna Onuoha, Lerato Shadi, and Sarnt Utamachote, Fonta was recognized for a decades-spanning practice that traverses visual art, sound, poetry, and philosophy. The jury described his work as a “field of vibrations,” noting its ability to merge image, sound, and ancestral memory into fluid, open-ended compositions.

Born in Buea, Cameroon, Fonta has built an international presence with exhibitions at institutions including Haus der Kulturen der Welt and Fundação Bienal de São Paulo. His work is known for its immersive, sensory quality, often resisting fixed interpretation while expanding the boundaries of contemporary artistic form.

Meaning “We are together” in Cameroonian Pidgin, the Wi Di Mimba Wi Prize underscores sustained support for artists of color based in Germany, prioritizing long-term development over singular moments of recognition.

Barbara Chase-Riboud Declines U.S. Pavilion Role Amid Venice Biennale Controversy

As uncertainty continues to shadow the United States’ participation in the 61st Venice Biennale, artist and author Barbara Chase-Riboud has publicly addressed her decision to decline an invitation to represent the country. In a statement to the Financial Times, she described the opportunity as “splendid,” but ultimately concluded that it was “not the moment.”

Chase-Riboud, whose sculptural practice was recently honored across multiple Paris institutions, was among the first artists approached by the American Arts Conservancy (AAC), a newly formed body tasked with overseeing the pavilion. The New York Times also reported that photographer William Eggleston declined the commission, prompting the AAC to proceed with Mexico-based American sculptor Alma Allen.

Her decision arrives amid sweeping changes to the pavilion’s selection process. In 2025, the U.S. Department of State assumed oversight from the National Endowment for the Arts, introducing revised guidelines aligned with federal policy shifts under American President Donald Trump. The updated framework emphasized proposals that “promote American values” and demonstrate “exceptionalism and innovation,” while significantly shortening preparation timelines.

Further complications followed, including the collapse of a proposal by Robert Lazzarini and curator John Ravenal. By November, the State Department confirmed Allen’s selection alongside curator Jeffrey Uslip.

Despite the announcement, questions remain around the AAC’s formation, funding, and broader role, leaving the U.S. pavilion’s direction a subject of ongoing scrutiny.

Fela Kuti to Be Inducted into Rock & Roll Hall of Fame with Early Influence Honor

Fela Kuti, the architect of Afrobeat and one of Africa’s most influential cultural figures, is set to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on November 14, 2026, at the Peacock Theater. He will receive the Early Influence Award, becoming the first African solo artist to earn the distinction.

The posthumous honor marks a crescendo in renewed global recognition of Kuti’s legacy. Earlier in 2026, he was awarded a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, following the 2025 induction of his seminal 1976 album Zombie into the Grammy Hall of Fame. These milestones reaffirm his enduring impact as both a musical innovator and a political voice.

Kuti joins a wide-ranging class of honorees, including Phil Collins, Sade, Wu-Tang Clan, Celia Cruz, and Queen Latifah, among others—situating his induction within a global constellation of musical influence.

Renewed interest in his work has also been fuelled by projects such as the podcast Fela Kuti: Fear No Man and forthcoming anniversary reissues marking 50 years of Zombie and Expensive Shit. 

Born in 1938, Kuti fused jazz, funk, and West African rhythms into a radical sonic language that confronted corruption, authoritarianism, and colonial legacies—an influence that continues to reverberate across global music and resistance movements.

Black Voices Shape the 2026 Art Basel Awards Medalists

The 2026 Art Basel Awards program has unveiled its latest cohort of medalists, spotlighting a powerful constellation of Black artists, curators, and cultural figures whose practices continue to shape the global art ecosystem. Selected by an international jury, the awards recognize 33 individuals and institutions across disciplines, from artists to storytellers, underscoring the interconnected nature of contemporary culture. 

In the Icon Artist category, Howardena Pindell is honored for her decades-long influence on abstraction and critical discourse. The Established Artist category features leading figures including Theaster Gates, Arthur Jafa, Julie Mehretu, and María Magdalena Campos-Pons—each recognized for practices that engage with history, Black identity, and spatial politics on a global scale. 

Among emerging voices, Precious Okoyomon stands out for an interdisciplinary practice rooted in ecology, migration, and colonial memory. 

Beyond artists, the awards foreground the broader cultural infrastructure sustaining contemporary art. Pamela J. Joyner is recognized in the Patron category, while Berlin-based SAVVY Contemporary earns distinction in the Museum and Institution category. Curator Azu Nwagbogu, founder of the African Artists’ Foundation and LagosPhoto, joins the Curator category, reinforcing Africa’s curatorial leadership on the global stage. 

In the Media and Storyteller category, Hilton Als and Siddhartha Mitter are recognized for shaping critical conversations around Black/African art and culture.

Set to be honored during Art Basel in Basel this June, the awardees reflect a shifting center, one in which Black artistic and intellectual contributions remain central to how contemporary art is imagined, produced, and understood.

Ibrahim Mahama Awarded 2026 Arnold Bode Prize in Kassel

Ibrahim Mahama has been named the recipient of the 2026 Arnold Bode Prize, awarded by the city of Kassel. The honor, which carries a €10,000 award, recognizes Mahama’s far-reaching artistic practice and its sustained engagement with global histories of labor, migration, and exchange.

Working across Accra, Kumasi, and Tamale, Mahama has built an internationally acclaimed practice rooted in material and memory. He is widely known for his monumental installations constructed from reclaimed jute sacks—objects once used in the global trade of commodities such as cocoa and coal—which he stitches together to form vast, tactile surfaces that often envelop entire architectural structures. Through these works, Mahama traces the movement of goods and bodies, exposing the often-invisible labor systems underpinning global economies.

Beyond his studio practice, Mahama has played a pivotal role in shaping Ghana’s contemporary art infrastructure. He is the founder of artist-led spaces including Red Clay Studio, Savannah Centre for Contemporary Art (SCCA), and Nkrumah Volini—initiatives that provide residencies, exhibitions, and critical support for emerging and established practitioners.

Named after Arnold Bode, founder of documenta, the prize underscores Kassel’s legacy as a site for critical artistic discourse. Mahama’s selection signals a continued recognition of practices that engage deeply with history, materiality, and the socio-political conditions shaping contemporary life.

Orchestra Noir Reimagines 2000s Hip-Hop and R&B for the Concert Hall

Orchestra Noir, the all-Black ensemble founded by Jason Ikeem Rodgers, is reshaping the sound and audience of classical music across the United States. By transforming early 2000s hip-hop and R&B into orchestral arrangements, the Atlanta-based group has built a growing national following, regularly selling out concert halls from Houston to New York and Los Angeles.

Founded in 2016, Orchestra Noir emerged from Rodgers’ experience navigating predominantly White classical institutions despite his training at the Cleveland Institute of Music and the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. Seeking to bridge that cultural distance, Rodgers established the ensemble as an independent platform—one that centers Black musical traditions without compromise.

Over the past decade, the orchestra has expanded its reach through high-profile collaborations and performances, including a landmark staging of Red Bull Symphonic alongside Rick Ross, original compositions for the High Museum of Art, and appearances tied to the National Juneteenth Museum. Partnerships with major platforms such as Atlantic Records and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon have further amplified its visibility.

The news arrives as Orchestra Noir continues an active national touring circuit, with new dates and expanded productions signaling its next phase of growth. Beyond performance, its relevance lies in how it redefines access to classical music, drawing in audiences historically excluded from concert halls while building a model that merges cultural authenticity with scale. For Rodgers, the goal is clear: not a moment, but a movement positioning Black orchestral expression on national and increasingly global stages.

Compiled by Roli O’tsemaye

The post This Week in Black Art and Culture appeared first on Sugarcane Magazine ™| Black Art Magazine.

In New York, Keisha Scarville transforms personal memory into public form; Corinne Bailey Rae turns to the tactile intimacy of sound as both archive and companion. Meanwhile, a powerful cohort of poets finds recognition on a global stage, and Selina Brown continues to reshape literary access from the ground up. Elsewhere, questions of platform, accountability, and cultural consequence surface sharply in the cancellation of a major U.K. music festival.

Keisha Scarville Wins Brooklyn Museum’s $25,000 UOVO Prize, Secures Public Commission

The Brooklyn Museum has named Keisha Scarville the recipient of the sixth UOVO Prize, awarding her an unrestricted $25,000 grant, a public exhibition, and a major commission. Known for a practice that navigates migration, memory, and loss through photography, collage, and archival material, Scarville will present new work at the museum’s Iris Cantor Plaza and produce a large-scale façade installation for UOVO in Bushwick.

As a Brooklyn native, I am deeply honored to be this year’s recipient of the UOVO Prize,” said Scarville in a statement. “My images, inspired by my Caribbean heritage, occupy a space between two lands. I look forward to realizing this installation at the Brooklyn Museum, a cultural cornerstone of New York City. This prize represents a dream fulfilled and brings me great joy to celebrate the Caribbean diaspora in Brooklyn.”

Born in Brooklyn to Guyanese parents, Scarville’s work reflects diasporic identity and lived experience. The upcoming exhibition, Where Salt Meets Black Water, curated by Pauline Vermare, draws from her Mama’s Clothes series, featuring photographic works that engage personal history and maternal memory. Opening May 8, the presentation extends her ongoing exploration of absence and inheritance.

Established in 2019, the UOVO Prize recognizes emerging artists based in Brooklyn. Past recipients include John Edmonds, Melissa Joseph, and Baseera Khan.

Corinne Bailey Rae Revisits Vinyl Culture with Children’s Book and Anniversary Tour

Corinne Bailey Rae is extending her enduring relationship with music into new territory, with her new children’s book, Put Your Records On. Inspired by her breakout song Put Your Records On and by a 20th-anniversary international tour, the book introduces young readers to the tactile and emotional experience of vinyl, drawing on Rae’s own childhood encounters with her father’s record collection.

In the story, a young girl is initiated into music through a treasured archive of records, echoing Rae’s early exposure to artists like Earth, Wind & Fire, Marvin Gaye, and Stevie Wonder. The narrative foregrounds music as both refuge and companion—an idea central to Rae’s formative years.

The release coincides with her “Like a Star: Celebrating 20 Years” tour, opening May 3, 2026,  at the Cheltenham Jazz Festival. Spanning 23 cities, the tour revisits material from her debut era while reactivating interest in vinyl listening.

Framing records as objects of memory and storytelling, Rae positions analogue sound as a communal and sensory experience, in contrast to the disembodied nature of digital listening.

Black Poets Feature Prominently on 2026 Griffin Poetry Prize Longlist

Four Black poets, Gbenga Adesina, Nick Makoha, Marissa Davis, and Kevin Young, have been named on the 2026 longlist of the Griffin Poetry Prize, one of the world’s most prestigious honours for a single poetry collection.

Adesina’s Death Does Not End at the Sea, and Makoha’s The New Carthaginians are among the ten titles selected from 461 submissions spanning 42 countries. Also included are Davis’ End of Empire and Young’s Night Watch, each contributing to a list that underscores the global resonance of Black, African, and diasporic poetics.

Adesina’s debut traces routes of migration and memory across continents, where the living and the dead coexist in an expansive, transhistorical landscape. Makoha’s collection, by contrast, interrogates empire and displacement, reimagining geographies from ancient Carthage to the modern diaspora. Davis’ work examines the afterlives of imperial power, while Young’s Night Watch, written over more than a decade, weaves personal grief with African American histories of survival and resilience.

Founded by Scott Griffin in 2000, the prize awards $130,000 (CAD) to a single winner, with shortlisted authors each receiving $10,000. The 2026 shortlist will be announced on April 22, ahead of the June 3 ceremony at Koerner Hall in Toronto.

Across the longlisted works, themes of migration, empire, grief, and historical memory converge, offering formally diverse and politically attuned meditations on displacement, inheritance, and the afterlives of history.

Selina Brown Named UK’s First National Reading Hero at Inaugural Queen’s Reading Room Medal

Selina Brown, founder of the Black British Book Festival, has been awarded the inaugural Queen’s Reading Room Medal by Queen Camilla, becoming the first recipient of the honour and the United Kingdom’s first National Reading Hero. The ceremony, held at Clarence House, brought together leading literary and cultural figures, including Ben Okri, Jojo Moyes, and Richard Osman.

Brown was recognized for building a grassroots literary movement that has reached over 100,000 people across the UK, alongside her Reading for Smiles initiative, which expands access to inclusive books in underserved schools. Since its founding in 2021, the festival has grown into a vital platform for Black British writers, challenging longstanding gaps in representation within the publishing industry.

Developed without institutional backing, the Black British Book Festival has become a critical space for amplifying Black British voices, hosting writers such as David Olusoga and Lenny Henry. The Queen’s Reading Room Medal, established to recognize those advancing literacy amid declining reading rates, positions Brown’s work within a wider national effort to reimagine access, representation, and the cultural value of reading.

U.K. Bars Ye Over Antisemitism, Forcing Cancellation of Wireless Festival

The U.K. government has barred Ye from entering the country, citing concerns over his history of antisemitic remarks. This decision has led to the cancellation of the Wireless Festival, where he was scheduled to headline.

In a statement, the Home Office said the rapper’s presence would not be “conducive to the public good,” effectively denying his visa application. The move followed days of mounting public and political pressure after Ye was announced as the sole headliner for the three-day London event.

Festival organizers, Festival Republic, confirmed that the festival would no longer go ahead and issued refunds to ticket holders. The decision marks a significant disruption for one of the U.K.’s leading platforms for Black music, which in previous years has featured major artists including Drake.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer publicly supported the ban, stating that Ye should not have been invited and reaffirming the government’s stance against antisemitism. Despite a last-minute appeal from the artist, who expressed a desire to engage with the Jewish community and demonstrate change, key organizations, including the Board of Deputies of British Jews, rejected the proposal.

The decision underscores growing scrutiny over artists’ public conduct and raises broader questions about accountability, platforming, and the limits of cultural visibility within the global music industry.

Exhibitions to See

Otobong Nkanga | “I Dreamt of You in Colours” | Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts, Lausanne, Switzerland | On view until August 23, 2026

William Kentridge | “The Battle Between YES and NO” | Kunsthalle Praha, Prague, Czechia | On view until September 7, 2026

Moffat Takadiwa | “Rémanence” | Galerie Farah Fakhri, Abidjan, Ivory Coast | On view until May 15, 2026

Compiled by Roli O’tsemaye

The post This Week in Black Art and Culture (April 5 – 11, 2026) appeared first on Sugarcane Magazine ™| Black Art Magazine.

A museum rethinks how African art should be seen. A government moves, once again, toward reckoning with what was taken. Across the Atlantic, artists are being resourced to imagine new futures, while in literature, voices from across continents converge on one of the world’s most prestigious stages. And as one era opens, another closes with the passing of a sculptor whose steel works reflected the lived realities of a people.

This week’s stories trace these movements of return, recognition, reimagining, and release, mapping a cultural moment that feels both unsettled and full of possibility.

This Week in Black Art and Culture is sponsored by the GMCVB

Brooklyn Museum Unveils Bold Plan for New African Art Galleries

The Brooklyn Museum is embarking on an ambitious $13 million renovation to house its vast African art collection, marking a major institutional shift in how the continent’s art is presented in the U.S. Slated to open in Fall 2027, the new “Arts of Africa” galleries will occupy 6,400 square feet, presenting over 300 works from a collection of more than 4,500 objects spanning antiquity to the present.

The move builds on a historic precedent: in 1923, the museum became the first in the United States to exhibit African objects as fine art rather than ethnographic material. Now, a century later, it is doubling down on that legacy with a contemporary, research-driven approach.

Curators Ernestine White-Mifetu and Annissa Malvoisin are leading the reinstallation, working alongside a broader team to center African and diasporic perspectives. Their methodology, grounded in the study of object biographies, seeks to “listen” to the works, reframing them through layered histories and cultural contexts.

Architecturally, the project will activate previously unused spaces, blending historic galleries with modern upgrades in lighting and climate control. Notably, it will also reconnect African galleries to the museum’s Egyptian collection, challenging long-standing separations within art history.

Supported by public and private funding, the initiative signals a renewed institutional commitment to access, scholarship, and a more expansive telling of Africa’s artistic legacy.

Tomashi Jackson Awarded $75,000 Wagner Fellowship for Socially-Engaged Practice

The Wagner Foundation has named Tomashi Jackson among the recipients of its 2026 Wagner Arts Fellowship, awarding the artist an unrestricted $75,000 grant in recognition of her socially-engaged practice.

Now in its second year, the fellowship supports mid-career and established artists in the Boston area whose work addresses social change. Jackson joins fellow awardees Lucy Kim and Yu-Wen Wu, with all three set to present their work in a group exhibition at the Wagner Gallery in Cambridge, Massachusetts, running from August through December.

Based in Cambridge, Jackson works across painting, printmaking, video, photography, fiber, and sculpture. Her layered, multidimensional works interrogate histories of segregation and systemic inequality, positioning abstraction as a site of political and cultural inquiry.

Founded in 2005, the Wagner Foundation has steadily expanded its support for artists and cultural institutions, distributing over forty grants annually. With this fellowship, the foundation continues to invest in artists shaping Boston’s cultural landscape while reinforcing the broader role of art as a catalyst for social reflection and change.

Germany Establishes National Council to Accelerate Restitution of Colonial-Era Art

Germany has announced the formation of a new national body to oversee the return of looted cultural artifacts and human remains acquired during the colonial era, signaling a deepening commitment to restitution.

The newly created Coordination Council for Returns of Cultural Property and Human Remains from Colonial Contexts will bring together representatives from federal, state, and municipal authorities. According to a report on ARTnews, the Culture Minister Wolfram Weimer, described the initiative as “an important step” toward responsibly addressing colonial-era collections.

Germany joins a growing number of European nations formalizing restitution frameworks. In France, efforts initiated by Emmanuel Macron continue to evolve, while the Benin Initiative Switzerland has already facilitated returns of Benin Bronzes. The Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation has also led recent repatriations, including transfers to Nigeria and Namibia.

The council builds on Germany’s 2019 restitution agreement and follows major actions such as the 2022 transfer of over 1,100 Benin Bronzes to Nigeria. Still, several promised returns—including the Ngonnso figure to Cameroon—remain pending, underscoring the long road ahead in Europe’s reckoning with colonial plunder.

Melvin Edwards, Sculptor of “Lynch Fragments”, Dies at 88

Melvin Edwards, the pioneering artist whose searing steel works fused abstraction with the lived realities of Black history, has died at 88. He passed away at his home in Baltimore, according to his gallery, Alexander Gray Associates.

Edwards was best known for his Lynch Fragments series, begun in 1963—an ongoing body of wall-mounted sculptures that combined welded steel forms, chains, and tools into dense, improvisational compositions. These works, at once abstract and deeply referential, grappled with histories of racial violence, labor, and survival in America.

One of the earliest pieces, Some Bright Morning, draws its title from Ralph Ginzburg’s 1962 book 100 Years of Lynchings, while also reflecting contemporary acts of anti-Black violence, including the killing of Ronald Stokes by Los Angeles police. Across the series, chains emerge as potent symbols of brutality, but also connection and resilience.

Influenced by American modernism as well as West African metalwork traditions, Edwards forged a visual language that was both formally rigorous and politically charged. His legacy endures as a powerful testament to art’s ability to hold history, memory, and resistance in tension.

Marie NDiaye and Ana Paula Maia Make 2026 International Booker Prize Shortlist

Marie NDiaye and Ana Paula Maia have been named among the finalists for the 2026 International Booker Prize, joining a distinguished shortlist that highlights the power and range of contemporary translated fiction.

Awarded annually to a single work translated into English and published in the UK or Ireland, the prize established in 2004, and rebranded in 2016, has long championed global and African literary voices. From a pool of 128 submissions, this year’s selection process narrowed first to a thirteen-book long list before arriving at a final shortlist that reflects both stylistic innovation and thematic urgency.

NDiaye’s The Witch, translated from French by Jordan Stump, has drawn acclaim for its fluid, immersive prose and finely controlled narrative voice. Meanwhile, Maia’s On Earth As It Is Beneath, translated from Portuguese by Padma Viswanathan, offers a stark and unsettling meditation on justice and brutality within the confines of a remote Brazilian penal colony.

The 2026 jury is chaired by Natasha Brown and includes Marcus du Sautoy, Sophie Hughes, Troy Onyango, and Nilanjana S. Roy; a panel reflecting the prize’s interdisciplinary and international scope.

The winner will be announced in London on May 19, 2026, continuing the prize’s legacy of elevating literary works that move across languages, borders, and histories.

Exhibitions to See

“Gordon Parks: We Shall Not Be Moved” | Alison Jacques, London, United Kingdom | March 5, 2026 – April 11, 2026

Theater Gates | “Dave: All My Relations” | Gagosian, New York, U.S | March 26 – May 2, 2026

“The Narratives of Migration” | National Museum of Jamaica, Kingston, Jamaica | March 27 – August 26, 2026 

Ndidi Dike | “Rare Earth Rare Justice” | Secession, Vienna, Austria | March 6 – May 31, 2026

“Tirailleurs: Trials and Tribulations” | Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW), Berlin, Germany | March 21 – June 16, 2026

Compiled by Roli O’tsemaye

The post This Week in Black Art and Culture (March 29th – April 3rd, 2026) appeared first on Sugarcane Magazine ™| Black Art Magazine.

Above: Jay-Z, photographed for a special global issue of GQ, on newsstands March 31. Photo by Rashid Johnson, Courtesy GQ

This week in Black Art and Culture, we see creativity defying boundaries and sparking conversation across continents and mediums. From moments of intimate portraiture to bold interventions in public space, artists and thinkers are challenging how we see, remember, and imagine.

This Week in Black Art and Culture is sponsored by the GMCVB

New recognitions, unexpected collaborations, and acts of artistic courage reveal stories that push against convention, honor history, and expand the possibilities of identity and expression.

Dive into our curated stories to discover the gestures, debates, and visions shaping Black art and culture today.

Mickalene Thomas and Oluremi C. Onabanjo Receive 2026 CPW Vision Awards

The Center for Photography at Woodstock (CPW) has announced the recipients of its 2026 Vision Awards, spotlighting a cohort of image-makers and thinkers reshaping the language of photography across generations and geographies. The honorees will be celebrated at a gala on May 16 at CPW’s Kingston, New York headquarters.

While the awards span a global cohort, we foreground Thomas and Onabanjo as part of its ongoing attention to Black artistic and curatorial practices. Mickalene Thomas, named “Photographer of the Year,” is widely recognized for her richly layered images exploring Black femininity and visual culture. Oluremi C. Onabanjo is honored for editing Ideas of Africa: Portraiture and Political Imagination, a publication that examines portraiture as a site of political imagination and self-definition across Africa.

They join fellow honorees, including Lifetime Achievement recipient Danny Lyon, whose decades-long practice has foregrounded civil rights struggles and marginalized communities, and emerging photographer Sridhar Balasubramaniyam.

Now in its 22nd year, the Vision Awards continues to trace photography’s evolving role in shaping identity, history, and resistance. Proceeds from the event will support Woodstock AIR, CPW’s long-running residency program dedicated to artists of color working at the intersection of image-making and social justice.

Rashid Johnson Photographs JAŸ-Z for GQ’s Global Issue

Rashid Johnson steps behind the lens to photograph Jay-Z (now styling his name JAŸ-Z), for a new global issue of GQ, marking the 30th anniversary of his landmark debut album Reasonable Doubt. Our focus rests on Johnson, whose interdisciplinary practice continues to expand the visual language of Black subjectivity.

Known for probing the complexities of the Black male psyche across painting, installation, and photography, Johnson emerges as a fitting collaborator for JAŸ-Z, an artist and cultural figure who has long challenged narrow definitions of Black identity across music, business, and public life. Their convergence here signals a shared commitment to reimagining representation.

JAŸ-Z’s relationship with contemporary art has deepened over the years, from Picasso Baby (a performance staged in dialogue with Marina Abramović’s The Artist Is Present), to Apeshit, filmed in the Louvre Museum. Johnson, fresh from a major survey at the Guggenheim Museum, draws on the photographic legacy of James Van Der Zee, bringing a historical sensibility to this contemporary cultural moment.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Fronts Bvlgari’s 2026 Carrying Culture Campaign

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has been named a Global Icon for Bvlgari’s 2026 Carrying Culture campaign, joining a cross-disciplinary group of women including Linda Evangelista, Isabella Rossellini, Kim Ji-won, and Sumayya Vally.

At the centre of Adichie’s participation is a conceptual pairing with “identity,” materialized through the Bvlgari Icons Minaudière, a sculptural circular clutch containing a miniature book she authored, Notes on Creating Culture. Designed to fit the object precisely, the text transforms the accessory into a vessel for thought, positioning storytelling as something carried, preserved, and transmitted.

Photographed by Ethan James Green and designed by Mary Katrantzou, the campaign extends beyond image-making into authorship. In an accompanying video, Adichie reflects on fiction as a record of lived experience, emphasizing emotional truth over ideology.

The campaign announcement arrives amid heightened attention on Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Dream Count, a sweeping, four-woman narrative of love, displacement, and identity that has quickly become one of the defining literary releases of 2025.

Removed Caesar Rodney Statue to Be Reinstalled in Washington, D.C.

Six years after its removal during the Black Lives Matter protests, a statue of Caesar Rodney is set to be reinstalled. But this time, in Washington, D.C. The monument, taken down in Wilmington, Delaware, amid nationwide demonstrations against racial injustice, will be temporarily sited at Freedom Plaza as part of the United States’ 250th anniversary celebrations.

According to reports, the statue’s return forms part of a broader commemorative program marking the nation’s founding, with proponents emphasizing Rodney’s historic “midnight ride” and role in securing independence. Eric Buckson, who has advocated for its reinstatement, framed the installation as an opportunity to foreground this legacy, while suggesting that fuller accounts of Rodney’s life, including his enslavement of more than 200 people, can be addressed separately.

The planned display raises unresolved questions about historical framing and public memory. Officials have not clarified whether the installation will acknowledge Rodney’s role as an enslaver. Its return follows renewed federal support for restoring contested monuments, including those tied to the Confederacy, signaling an ongoing national debate over how histories of power, violence, and identity are publicly remembered.

South African Work Banned from Venice Biennale Explores an Alternate Venue

South African artist Gabrielle Goliath’s performance project Elegy, initially barred from representing South Africa at the Venice Biennale over its tribute to Palestinian poet Hiba Abu Nada, will be shown as a video installation at Chiesa di Sant’Antonin, near the Biennale site, from 4 May.

Elegy, conceived in 2015 to mourn South African student Ipeleng Christine Moholane, features seven operatically trained female performers emerging from a black background, holding a single high note for as long as they can. They then retreat and are replaced by another singer.

The performance on display in Venice commemorates two displaced Nama women who were killed by German colonial forces in the early 20th century, as well as the Palestinian poet Hiba Abu Nada, who was killed in October 2023, at the age of 32, in an Israeli airstrike in Khan Younis, Gaza. It is accompanied by a ghazal, an ancient Arabic form of ode in tribute to Nada’s poem I Grant You Refuge, which she wrote ten days before her death.

South Africa’s pavilion remains empty after Culture Minister Gayton McKenzie blocked Goliath’s entry, citing the work’s “divisive” focus on grieving Palestinian lives. The artist is appealing the decision while staging the Venice show in partnership with London’s Ibraaz, which will host it in October.

Goliath’s show at Chiesa di Sant’Antonin is being presented in partnership with Ibraaz art centre, which will host Elegy in October.

Amoako Boafo Mentors Emerging Artists While Expanding His Practice

Ghanaian painter Amoako Boafo, internationally celebrated for his striking finger-painted portraits, is expanding his practice while mentoring the next generation of artists. His technique, pressing pigment directly onto canvas with his hands, leaves visible traces of gesture, creating an intimate connection between artist, sitter, and surface. Boafo describes this approach as transformative, teaching him to trust his process, to see identity as fluid rather than fixed, and to embrace the evolving, provisional nature of each painting. His works reflect individuality, presence, and the constant possibility of change, echoing his belief that both art and life are always open to improvement.

Building on this philosophy, Boafo has partnered with Maison Perrier to mentor emerging artists in Accra. The program extends his ongoing efforts to develop Ghana’s creative infrastructure and position the city as a site of international artistic exchange. Through initiatives like dot.ateliers, which he founded, Boafo has created platforms that connect local artists, curators, and patrons, enabling collaboration, resource-sharing, and professional development. By investing both time and expertise, Boafo is nurturing talent while ensuring Accra remains a vibrant hub for contemporary African art.

Compiled by Roli O’tsemaye

The post This Week in Black Art and Culture (March 22 – 28, 2026) appeared first on Sugarcane Magazine ™| Black Art Magazine.

Housed in a 15th-century Carthusian monastery on the banks of the Guadalquivir River, CAAC is one of southern Europe’s leading contemporary art institutions. On view in the museum’s North and East Cloisters through January 10, 2027, the exhibition opens CAAC’s 2026 program with a project that deepens cultural dialogue across both sides of the Atlantic. 

AFRICAN FOUNDATIONS

Through 128 works organized across five chapters, the exhibition offers a renewed reading of Africa’s imprint on the formation of the Americas, approached through relational, political, and aesthetic lenses. Spanning painting, sculpture, photography, installation, and textile practices, the presentation includes artists born in more than thirty countries across Africa, the Americas, Europe, and Australia, reflecting the global dimension of the African diaspora and its enduring impact on contemporary culture.

Featured artists include internationally recognized figures such as Kara Walker, María Magdalena Campos-Pons, Wifredo Lam, Rubem Valentim, Igshaan Adams, Zanele Muholi, El Anatsui, and Esther Mahlangu, the most senior artist in the exhibition at age 91. The presentation also establishes a dialogue between pioneers such as Rubem Valentim, Bertina Lopes, and Mahlangu and later generations including Nnenna Okore, Ayan Farah, and Kapwani Kiwanga, whose practices echo related references across distinct historical moments.

“As a collector, I am interested in supporting works that expand our understanding of history and challenge simplified narratives,” says Pérez. “Améfrica underscores that we share intertwined origins and that no artistic expression, nor any society, emerges in isolation. We are the result of crossings, trajectories, and shared memories.”

CONCEPTUAL AXES

The exhibition unfolds across five thematic chapters inspired by ideas that Lélia Gonzalez identified as central to processes of africanidade. Together, they frame the works through historical, political, and symbolic perspectives.

Adaptation
This section examines both forced and voluntary crossings that shaped relationships between Africa and the Americas. The works evoke transatlantic and overland journeys, the movement of goods and people, and territories reimagined as Amefrican landscapes. Artists including El Anatsui, Ibrahim Mahama, María Magdalena Campos-Pons, and Juan Carlos Alom reflect on migration, material circulation, and memory across geographies. Several works suggest that cultural continuity often transcends national borders.

Resistance
Here, artists engage the visual languages of resistance and contemporary activism. As curator Helio Menezes notes, the works translate the socio-racial tensions of the present into material and formal expression. Particular attention is given to the figure of the Black mother, evoking resistance through care, protection, and struggles against racism and xenophobia. Artists in this section include Mickalene Thomas, Bisa Butler, and Zanele Muholi.

Reinterpretation
This chapter explores how spiritual and religious traditions have been reshaped through displacement and survival. The works move beyond conventional iconography, drawing on ancestral presences, ritual practices, and trance as sites of knowledge and power. Artists such as Manuel Mendive Hoyos, Belkis Ayón, Frida Orupabo, and Turiya Magadlela engage inherited spiritual frameworks while reconfiguring them for contemporary contexts.

Creation of New Forms
Focusing on experimentation and innovation, this section highlights the development of hybrid visual languages. Artists including Stanley Whitney, Sam Gilliam, Serge Attukwei Clottey, Sonia Gomes, and Kapwani Kiwanga work across chromatic abstraction, sculpture, and textile structures, mobilizing mineral materials, organic fibers, and repurposed objects to construct new aesthetic vocabularies.

Amefricanas
The final chapter centers on self-representation by Black women artists who construct new visual imaginaries in the first person. Through painting, sculpture, photography, and installation, these artists move beyond colonial stereotypes and propose new narratives of the body, gesture, desire, and image. Featured artists include Kara Walker, Carrie Mae Weems, Lorna Simpson, Nandipha Mntambo, and Faith Ringgold.

The Jorge M. Pérez Collection and El Espacio 23

The Jorge M. Pérez Collection is a Miami-based private collection dedicated primarily to contemporary art, with significant holdings of African and African diaspora art, Latin American art and its diasporas, as well as works from the United States and selected European contexts.

Over the years, the Pérez Collection has developed sustained relationships with leading international institutions, advancing loans, curatorial collaborations, and traveling exhibitions with major museums including the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid, Tate in London, and the Pérez Art Museum Miami, among many others.

The collection is activated through El Espacio 23, a nonprofit art space founded by collector and philanthropist Jorge M. Pérez and his wife Darlene Pérez. Located in a renovated 28,000-square-foot former industrial warehouse in Miami’s Allapattah neighborhood, El Espacio 23 is open to the public free of charge and presents exhibitions, residencies, educational initiatives, and special projects drawn from the Pérez Collection in ongoing dialogue with international institutions and artistic communities.

The post Jorge M. Pérez Collection Explores African Diaspora in ‘Améfrica’ at Spain’s CAAC appeared first on Sugarcane Magazine ™| Black Art Magazine.

As a public gallery with access to the university’s historical archives, it serves as the perfect spot to host Ceremony, displaying Lindsay Adams’ artworks alongside archival materials on African-American history, courtesy of the school’s Sheridan Libraries.

The Washington, D.C., area is home to multiple museums and galleries that support the expression of Black art and African American history. Adams, a D.C. area native, admits that this has influenced her as an artist. “Growing up surrounded by so much cultural memory shaped how I understand place, history, and belonging, and being raised in a region rooted in movement and activism deepened my interest in liberation and imagination.”

Adams became a full-time artist in 2022, though her personal journey as an artist began many years before then. She learned how to paint in high school. Encouraged by her teachers, she regularly participated in end-of-year exhibitions. She earned double degrees in International Studies and Spanish, with a minor in Studio Art, from the University of Richmond.

Adams’ visual art comprises painting and drawing. Her abstract/monochromatic drawings are done with charcoal, ink, pen, graphite, and cold wax. The vivid burst of colors seen in her work is achieved with oil paint and oil pastels. She favors painting above other art media, followed closely by photography. 

Her artistic process is motivated by curiosity and the desire to explore ideas through color, gesture, and form. “Creating art allows me to move into spaces that language cannot always reach, and it gives me room to imagine and to push beyond what is familiar.”

While creating, Adams favors a well-lit work environment. “Spaces with bright natural light, room to read and research, and enough surface area to lay out my palettes and materials. When I have that sense of clarity and openness, the work is able to unfold naturally.”

During her undergraduate studies, she developed a keen interest in history and anthropology, which strongly influenced her artistic voice. Over time, her visual representations of Black ancestral connections to land and place flourished with the use of flora and human figures. 

“As my work shifted toward abstraction,” Adams shared, “I realized that my interest in place was not only literal but psychological. My visual language grew. I became increasingly focused on imagination, expansion, and how far I could push color and line.”

“In recent years, I have worked in parallel with research, studying collective histories, spatial refusal, and liberatory practice. I have continued to push color, gesture, and form in order to build worlds,” she added.

She was introduced to the work of Black Washington artists Alma Thomas and Sam Gilliam of the Washington Color School during the early stages of her career, and it “opened my sense of what color, rhythm, and expansiveness could be, something that continues to move through my work.”

Thomas and Gilliam, along with Monet, Jack Whitten, Howardena Pindell, and Helen Frankenthaler, are major influences of Adams’ art. Their approaches to color, material, and experimentation have shaped how she thinks about abstraction. 

She also draws inspiration from creatives outside the sphere of visual art. “I am guided by Black geographies, memory studies, and the historical research that grounds much of my practice. Literature is another major influence, especially writers who explore imagination, possibility, and the complexity of Black life. I also draw inspiration from the natural world, especially water and landscape, and from the quiet movements and gestures of everyday life that reveal how we inhabit place. All of these influences inform how I build color, line, and space in my work. Painting is also a form of meditation and release for me. It allows me to slow down, listen, and move through emotion and thought with intention, which keeps me connected to the core of my practice.”

Speaking about Ceremony, Adams notes that it creates space for her to honor the gray areas in African-American history and hold Black memory with care. “The exhibition allows history to surface through color, gesture, and the archival fragments that move quietly through the work. Abstraction offers me latitude to imagine beyond what has been prescribed and to shape new ways of seeing and being.”

“Ceremony asks viewers to slow down and pay attention to the stories that shape a place, and to consider how we carry those stories forward. In this way, the exhibition becomes both an offering and an act of insistence, a space for presence, possibility, and refusal of erasure.”

While Adams produced these stunning art pieces, Claudia Watts, the guest curator, ensured that the original copies of complementary archival history material from the Sheridan Libraries were displayed alongside them. Doing so provides visitors with an authentic viewing experience. These pieces were selected in accordance with Ceremony’s tripartite theme: travel (domestic and international), social mobility, and interiority and leisure, as experienced by the Black community.

Watts started organizing small shows for friends in D.C. around 2016, though she did not consider herself a curator. “I knew I was on my way but not ready to give myself that title,” she said. However, she worked at the Anacostia Community Museum, part of the Smithsonian, where she met several curators she admired. From the Anacostia, where she worked on the museum’s revitalization project for two years, she transitioned into marketing, special projects, and strategic partnerships. 

Her career shifted in 2020, when she took on the role of Director of Culture at the Eaton Hotel in D.C. She met Adams at Eaton and curated her debut solo exhibition in 2022, titled Two Things Can Be True. They formed a close-knit friendship, with Watts describing Adams as “one of the most thoughtful human beings I know. Her work is rooted in deep research, and her studio practice is both rigorous and spiritual. She is empathetic and uses her intuition to excavate the nuances of life when others would rather skim the surface.” Watts’ remarks suggest that these qualities are reflected in her use of color and gesture.

“I curated several small exhibitions and worked with the arts community to present programs in addition to other hotel-related responsibilities. Since 2017, I have also maintained a writing practice and continue to work as a freelance writer. In 2022, I decided to go back to school to get my MA in Art History. I graduated in 2024 and started working at the National Gallery of Art as a research assistant,” she added. 

According to Watts, Ceremony was inspired by two texts: Black Gathering: Art, Ecology, Ungiven Life by Sarah Jane Cervenak,  and Sylvia Wynter’s essay The Ceremony Found: Towards the Autopoetic Turn/Overturn, Its Autonomy of Human Agency and Extraterritoriality of (Self-)Cognition, from which the title “Ceremony” was borrowed. 

“In Cervenak’s text, she uses various artworks and literary examples. Her framework seeks to dispel enlightenment ideologies that consign African American existence to perpetual ownership or an assumed givenness. Gathering, physically and conceptually, becomes an act not only of survival but of cultural preservation meant to withstand imposed forms of erasure. Essential to the reading are the ways in which community, in its many facets, can facilitate life beyond the superstructures that inflict violence upon the other.”

“In this sense, Ceremony is a fragmented collection of stories in which Adams’ canvases represent the gathering of ideas, moments, values, and desires. The archival materials are both symbols of the concepts with which Adams engages and remnants of real lives. Together they celebrate and illuminate the ways African Americans have navigated their surroundings in an effort to cultivate spaces of safety, creativity, respite, and economic access.”

“Together,” says Watts, these stories, represented through archival objects and expressed with Adams’ painterly technique, demonstrate alternatives to a circumscribed identity and quality of life. They point toward a nascent consciousness of the intrinsic value we possess as people, despite any worldly restrictions or categorizations. It is in this spirit that we chose to invoke Sylvia Wynter’s essay The Ceremony Found: Towards the Autopoetic Turn/Overturn, Its Autonomy of Human Agency and Extraterritoriality of (Self-)Cognition.”

“In this text, her words speak to the power of narrative and remind us that if certain mythologies exist to tell the world who we are, they also exist to keep us trapped within the status quo. For Wynter, the ceremony is where we find freedom by recognizing the many modes of human existence, bringing them into a nonhierarchical relation with one another, and remaking ourselves in that image. Our Ceremony offers entry into this line of thinking, the ideas and experiences presented are a testament to the transformative power of community,” she further explained.

All the pieces exhibited at Ceremony are interconnected, embodying a multifaceted activist narrative of the Black experience, from entertainment and travel to interpersonal experiences. Watts provides illustrations based on the exhibited pieces to buttress this point. “When we think about Langston Hughes’ autobiography The Big Sea, he is traveling to find greater opportunity than what has been allowed in the United States.”

“Another example is the impact the automobile had on Black life,” directing viewers to a studio portrait of a family posing in a car, as a fitting example. “It afforded greater opportunities for interpersonal connectivity and space for other community-driven innovations because people could see their friends and family more often without the perils associated with walking down a dark back road, crossing through an unwelcoming neighborhood, riding on a dirty car, or being humiliated in a myriad of ways while on public transportation. Through abstraction, Lindsay’s work acknowledges this past while inviting people to reimagine the world around them.”

Watts selected the exhibited pieces after conversing with Adams about her creative process. Drawing on her personal observations of the artist’s studio practice, she developed a unifying theme that formed the basis of the show. She carried out subsequent research in the Sheridan Libraries Special Collection and was able to gather the necessary historical materials paired with Adams’ works. 

Based on her findings and eventual curation, the curator identified the show’s themes as movement and mobility, and their impact on the behavior of African Americans throughout history, with their refusal to accept allotted spaces, and crafting new spaces to dwell in. “Lindsay’s paintings embody this ethos while the archival objects represent these themes in the real lives of people, both those who were well known and those who remain unknown.”

Kind of Blue (1959), named after African-American jazz artist Miles Davis, reflects Adams’ reverence for music with Black origins, for which she often names her paintings. She also seeks to embody the Black expatriate experience during the Jim Crow era. Solar Searching, a brilliant combination of reds, greens, and yellows, is paired with Billie Holiday’s travel itinerary and some postcards. Errantry/Exodus is reminiscent of the green ink Langston Hughes used for his signature, and serves as a response to his debut autobiographical novel, The Big Sea. Lotus Blossom (1968), named after Billy Strayhorn’s composition, which gained popularity after Duke Ellington’s performance, is paired with ephemera from some influential Black organizations, like the Improved Benevolent and Protective Order of the Elks of the World. Where can I go to frolic? a set of paintings noticeably smaller than other paintings resonates with the theme of leisure, a concept that was alienated from the Black experience during the Jim Crow era. These paintings, evocative of longing, are paired with postcards that allude to the same fact. Some paintings, deliberately left untitled and named as such, encourage individuality among viewers. Pictures of Adams’ notes, framed and placed alongside these pieces, invite  gallery visitors to view the world as she does. 

So far, Adams’ latest exhibition has garnered significant recognition since its opening at the Hopkins Bloomberg Center from the D.C. art community. The archival materials, postcards, and telegrams were also made to create an interactive experience for visitors. The exhibition’s playlist, curated by Sean Jones, the Richard and Elizabeth Case Chair in Jazz Studies at the Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University , consists of music from artists referenced in the exhibition, like Billie Holiday and Miles Davis, among others.

Ceremony will be on display at the Irene and Richard Frary Gallery until March 7, 2026. 

The post Lindsay Adams and Claudia M. Watts Collaborate for Ceremony at the Irene and Richard Frary Gallery appeared first on Sugarcane Magazine ™| Black Art Magazine.

Previously, it was not unusual for major Black artists to be promoted in Miami, to a small art community, nor was it unusual for there to be no attention placed on local Black artists. However, times have changed, and PAMM has been a leader inits focus on Black art, both internationally and locally. Every year, PAMM hosts “Art and Soul”, a fundraiser for the Black Art Fund, which has raised $8.9 million to date and helped the museum acquire incredible works by the art world’s most lauded Black artists.  “Art and Soul” is curated in many ways for the large donor yet allows access to the everyday art supporter who wants to be part of history and celebrate artistic excellence. 

PAMM’s leadership in Black art is intentional and dynamicallyshows the range of the African diaspora with a nod towards the Caribbean, the Central part of the African continent, and South America, as well as the United States. This leadership was molded by Jorge Perez, the Knight Foundation, and Franklin Sirmans. Sirmans’ appointment in 2014 was an exciting choice for Miami, and his curatorial focus was exactly what the city needed, given its long neglect of the Black art world. Franklin’s work in New York, Los Angeles, Houston, and New Orleans was fantastic preparation for what would be needed to lead PAMM into the future. That future has brought diverse programming  that brought Miami’s community at large together, making Miami the a focus for Black creatives worldwide. Celebrating the leadership of PAMM, as well as being a partner in building a collection of loyal Black art, is still possible by clicking this link to purchase tickets

The post PAMM’s Art & Soul Marks 13 Years of Elevating Black Artists and Rewriting Miami’s Art Story appeared first on Sugarcane Magazine ™| Black Art Magazine.

Above: Angèle Etoundi Essamba | Tableau Vivant | On view at Ten North Group.

It’s that time of year again for the 2025 Black Art Guide to Finding Black Art during Art Week Miami.

When Art Basel in Miami Beach begins, the energy in the city is electrifying. There is no conversation that does not involve art—everyone has an exhibition! From doctors to real estate companies, local hotels, and, yes, some of the finest art fairs in the world, this year is no different. The views are expansive, stretching from Opa-locka, Florida, down through the southernmost part of Miami-Dade County. This Black art guide helps you navigate the South Florida art scene of international and local artists.

Sugarcane’s resource still remains the most comprehensive Black art guide, and we will continue to update it until Wednesday, December 3rd.

I noticed that this year, many organizations started late and did not spend as much on advertising, appearing instead to cultivate the loyal audiences they’ve developed over the years. While there has been an attack on DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) in the United States, I am happy to say that Black artists are not going anywhere soon. You will continue to see us prominently featured in the major fairs.

Whether local organizations will be able to continue their work remains to be seen. However, we are here, and our work is not going anywhere this year.

The Black art guide is listed by day, so you know exactly what is available and where. And, of course, I hope to see you at the various venues! Also, I’ve added a Google sheet to assist with your daily planning here.

Woody De Othello — coming forth by day

Through Jun. 28, 2026 | Pérez Art Museum Miami

PAMM presents coming forth by day, the first solo museum exhibition in Miami by artist Woody De Othello. Rooted in Othello’s deep ties to the city and his exploration of ancestral heritage, the exhibition reflects on the ways objects hold history, absorb meaning, and act as vessels for spiritual and emotional experience. Visitors will encounter a new body of work including ceramics, wood sculptures, tile wall pieces, and a monumental bronze—each extending Othello’s material investigations and sculptural language.

El Espacio 23 | Year-round | 2270 NW 23rd St, Miami, Florida 33142

 The contemporary art space founded by philanthropist, entrepreneur and art collector Jorge M. Pérez presents “A World Far Away, Nearby, and Invisible,” which explores how territory shapes identity, memory, and belonging. It features nearly 150 works by 100+ artists from the Americas, Europe, Africa, and beyond, including first-time institutional features by Miami-based artists.

Little Haiti Cultural Center | Year-round | 212 NE 59th Terrace, Miami, FL 33137

The Little Haiti Cultural Center is presenting holiday events and evening concerts this year. Enjoy jazz brunches, concerts, fashion shows and conversations. Visit the Instagram page for more information.

The Marshall L. Davis Sr. African Heritage Cultural Arts Center (DAHCAC) (Nov 14, 2025 – Feb 28, 2026) 6161 NW 22nd Ave Miami 33142

Concluding its 50th Year Anniversary with three powerful events at 6161 NW 22nd Ave, Miami, FL 33142. The Porch Passages: Creole Collage installation by Cornelius Tulloch explores Black and Caribbean architectural heritage (Nov 29, 2025–Jan 17, 2026). The Suns & Shadows exhibition, curated by Roscoè B. Thické III, features works reflecting on heritage and legacy through various mediums (Nov 14, 2025–Feb 28, 2026). The 9th Annual Art, Blues & Soul Festival (“Class On The Grass”) will feature soulful music and visual art on Saturday, December 6, 2025, starting at 3:00 PM. All events celebrate African American culture.

Dec. 1
Highlander Center — World AIDS Day Screening: Black Is…Black Ain’t
5:30 PM – 9:00 PM | Boiling Point, 8015 NW 16TH AVE, MIAMI, FL 33147
Highlander Center’s Winter Lyceum opens with a World AIDS Day screening of Marlon Riggs’ final film, Black Is…Black Ain’t, presented with Masisi Radio. Riggs’ landmark work dives into debates around Black identity, interrogating stereotypes, internal community pressures, and the violences of sexism, patriarchy, homophobia, and colorism. The screening will be followed by a conversation with Akia Dorsainvil (@pressurepoint.mp3) exploring queer time, anger as a tool, and the creation of sacred gathering spaces. Arrive early to contribute to a communal altar and stay afterward for fellowship to the sounds of queer ancestors. No registration required.

Dec. 2 

Celebrate Miami MoCAAD’s First Ten Years
6:30 PM – 10:00 PM | Black Archives Historic Lyric Theater

Join Miami MoCAAD’s 10th Anniversary Celebration, a dynamic evening of art, technology, and culture at the heart of Historic Overtown. This milestone event will take place during Soul Basel 2025—part of Art of Black Miami at Miami Art Week—bringing together artists, innovators, and community leaders for an unforgettable celebration of creativity and impact.

MOCA North Miami — Miami Art Week Reception

8:30 PM – 10:30 PM | Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami

Celebrate MOCA’s fall exhibitions: Hiba Shahbaz: The Garden, Diana Eusebio: Field of Dreams, and the Art on the Plaza installation Magnus Sodamin: Gateway. A highlight is Eusebio’s first solo museum exhibition, a vibrant exploration of home, heritage, and memory through natural dyes, textiles, and digital works inspired by her Afro-Dominican and Indigenous Quechua Peruvian roots. The show transforms the gallery into an immersive ethnobotanical environment, celebrating ancestral traditions, community, and the natural world. Curated by Kimari Jackson.

ICA Miami VIP Opening Night — Presented by W Magazine

6:00 PM | ICA Miami

VIP Opening Night for Miami Art Week 2025, Sugarcane is highlighting two exhibitions: Richard Hunt: Pressure and Igshaan Adams: Lulu, Zanele, Zandile, Savannah, which will be on view through Mar. 29 and Nov. 1, 2026, respectively.

ICA Miami Members and Art Week VIP Passholders receive complimentary admission for up to two (2) guests.

December 2 – December 7

Scope Art Fair leads when it comes to accessible art, art technology and experiential exhibitions. The Miami Beach iteration always features African diaspora artists. This year, look for work by Agusto Fanjul, Halimotu Shokunbi and Unique Art Fair.

Context|Art Miami One Herald Paza Miami

CONTEXT Art Miami, presented by Art Miami, continues to create and push boundaries in the conversation about contemporary art. Work from artists from 75 innovative galleries from more than 20 countries, including Nigeria, Japan, Turkey, Australia, France, South Korea and Chile.

NADA Miami 2023 – Ice Palace Film Studios

This year’s fair will showcase a diverse selection of galleries, art spaces, and nonprofit organizations. Look for Christiana Ine-Kimba Boyle’s Gladwell Projects and her debut at the fair. Also, Affinity Art gallery is a must stop. This is the fair you visit when you are looking for emerging artists and work you typically don’t have access to.

Untitled Art Fair -Ocean Drive and 12th Street. Miami Beach

Untitled Art fair featured work by a variety of Black galleries and artists. Go to see work by Kelvin Hazel at gallery 1957 and Leroy Campbell at Richard Beavers Gallery. Untitled also is a wonderful platform for collaboration, such as the Tulsa FellowshipsxUntitledxCentral Standard. Also, look out for Richard Ayodeji Ikhide and Khalif Tahir Thompson.

Dec. 3

KEY Art + Design Fair

12:00 PM – 9:00 PM (Sun until 7:00 PM) | 763 Collins Ave, Miami Beach (Corner of 8th & Collins)

Through curated exhibitions, special programming, and immersive experiences, the debut KEY Art + Design Fair provides a platform for both established and emerging artists to connect with collectors, curators, and art lovers from around the world. Through the 7th, the fair is to offer a fresh and dynamic experience on the beach. It will also feature an educational component, including a section dedicated to art students and the announcement of its annual artist-in-residence at the end of the fair. This new initiative will provide unprecedented exposure and opportunities for emerging artists around the world.

Highlander Center — Popular Education; Techno as African-American Environmental Thought
12 PM – 1:30 PM | Boiling Point, 8015 NW 16TH AVE, MIAMI, FL 33147
Ryan Clarke of DWELLER leads a deep exploration of techno as geomancy and African-American environmental thought. This lecture-workshop investigates heritage algorithms embedded in Black cultural practices and how they encode pre-Atlantic liberation technologies. Together, participants will examine and perform Black pattern systems as acts of collective self-expression, ethno-mathematics, and fugitivity.

Highlander Center — Popular Education; Cartography and Bees
2 PM – 3:30 PM | Boiling Point, 8015 NW 16TH AVE, MIAMI, FL 33147
Join Ana Samantha Pierre and Tami T. Jackson-Wauchope of @combcutters for a session on the lives of bees as models of community. From the Mayflower’s introduction of honeybees to the present, the workshop reconsiders bees as agricultural collaborators, revealing how colonial language shapes our understanding of these embodied communities. Learn how to support native bees and cultivate ecosystems that thrive in South Florida.

Dec. 4
Artist Talk & Brunch with Igshaan Adams
10:00 AM – 12:00 PM | Soho Beach House
A light brunch and conversation with exhibiting artist Igshaan Adams and Gean Moreno, Director of ICA Miami’s Art + Research Center.
Open to ICA Miami members at Culture Club level and above. Limited to the first 125 guests; RSVP required.

Highlander Center — The Art of Hanging Out
3:00 PM – 6:00 PM | Boiling Point, 8015 NW 16TH AVE, MIAMI, FL 33147
Slip into a softer space for intentional fellowship. This gathering reenvisions the commons through collective well-being, reciprocity, and self-governance. Inspired by activist practices from Copenhagen, participants will cook together, world-build together, and witness the cultural richness of Miami’s organizing community. 

Bakehouse Art Complex — Baker’s Brunch: Open Studios and Cafecito

9:00 AM – 12:00 PM | Bakehouse Art Complex

Visit the studio of 2025 Caribbean Cultural Institute (CCI) Artist Fellow M. Florine Démosthène and experience her multidisciplinary practice firsthand. In residence through mid-December, Démosthène’s work spans painting, collage, and experimental sculpture. Presented by PAMM in partnership with Bakehouse Art Complex.

Art Basel Miami Beach –Art Basel, 1901 Convention Center Drive, Miami Beach

The fair that elevated Art Week Miami to the next level. Art Basel Miami Beach is the premier fair during this week and one of the most influential platforms in the world. Look for must-see Black owned galleries such as Jenkins Johnson Gallery, Nicola Vassell, Welancora Gallery and Afriart Gallery. The UBS Lounge is for UBS invited guests. Location: Miami Beach Convention Center, 1901 Convention Ctr. Dr., Miami Beach, Fla. 33139.

How Black collectors are reshaping philanthropy

2:30 PM – 3:15 PM | Art Basel, 1901 Convention Center Drive, Miami Beach

A panel discussion with Victoria Rogers, Joy Simmons, and moderator Thomas E. Moore III exploring how Black collectors and philanthropists are redefining cultural leadership and transforming how art is supported, displayed, and valued across the United States. Conversations are free and open to the public; booking is recommended.

Dec. 5

Global Pulse Photo Exhibition

8:30 PM – 10:30 PM  | RSVP for location

MONAD Presents Global Pulse: A collective portrait of humanity right now: urban rhythms, cultural rituals, political unrest, personal intimacy. Curated by Dez Amakye (@dokyii on IG), each artist brings their corner of the world and showcases it to the world. Explore this immersive and energetic evening of art as we celebrate 100 talented photographers from around the world.   

Rethinking the field: Museums and the power of sports

2:30 PM – 3:15 PM | Art Basel, 1901 Convention Center Drive, Miami Beach

Presented in collaboration with OffBall, this panel with Seph Rodney, Paul Pfeiffer, and moderator Shanon Kelley examines how museums, curators, and artists can bridge the worlds of sports and art, expanding storytelling, community, and institutional impact. Free and open to the public; booking recommended.

Dec. 6

Writing history now: Art, memory, and the shaping of the present

1:00 PM – 2:00 PM | Art Basel, 1901 Convention Center Drive, Miami Beach

Artist Hank Willis Thomas and Anne Helmreich, moderated by Sandra Jackson-Dumont, explore how art shapes memory and history, creating space for reflection, rupture, and reparation in a changing cultural landscape. Free and open to the public; booking recommended.

BLACK HAUSE To Miami Art Basel Wknd Presented By: Forward Society
10:00 PM – 3:00 AM | MAD Club Wynwood

BLACK HAUSE makes its way Friday to Miami for Art Basel!

BLACK COFFEE w/ Arodes & Floyd Lavine

5:00 PM – 12:00 AM | Open Air at the Downtown Courthouse

Grammy winning, World reknown South African DJ Black Coffee returns to Miami for an iconic take over at the downtown Miami courthouse for Space Basel.

REVOLT House Party
7:00 PM – 11:00 PM | Ice Palace Film Studios

Close out Miami Art Week at the REVOLT House Party 2025—the art party for the culture. Featuring sounds by DJ PeexWeezy, DJ Pat Lax, and DJ Vybz, this high-energy event transforms the fair’s final night into a dynamic celebration of music, creativity, and community.

Dec. 7

CADA Annual Art Talk

12:00 PM – 4:00 PM | Miami Beach Art Deco Museum

CADA (Caribbean & African Diaspora Art), proudly presents Divine Swagger: Portraits of Power, Rhythm, and Remembrance, a major exhibition curated by Ludlow E. Bailey Dec. 6-7. This landmark show celebrates the elegance, confidence, and spiritual resonance that define contemporary art of the global African Diaspora. CADA’s Signature Annual Panel Discussion & Brunch will be Sunday, Dec 7.  Featured speakers include Melissa Hunter (Publisher, Sugarcane Magazine), Vanessa Charlot (Artist and Professor), Julie Walker (Art Critic), Maxwell Pearce, and Cornelius Tulloch.

Nov. 29 – Dec. 7
Soul Basel 

Various Times & Locations

Soul Basel 2025 brings a vibrant lineup to Art Basel this year with more than 40 events and over a dozen partners and curators across Miami Art Week. The celebration transforms Historic Overtown into a dynamic cultural landscape filled with art, fashion, music, and community. Expect immersive exhibitions and interactive tours, each reflecting our community’s creativity, resilience, and innovation.

Dec. 1- 2

DVCAI: What’s In Your Container? – Telegraph Valley

6:00 PM – 7:00 PM | Barry University – Monsignor William Barry Library

Experience Telegraph Valley, an evocative installation and performance activating The Container Project at DVCAI at Barry University during Miami Art Week. Created and performed by L.A. Samuelson in collaboration with Dramaturg Elle Hong and Sound Artist Adam Stone, this immersive work assembles house frames, ladders, floating decks, and a single dancer into momentary dwellings that explore the body as a “house for the soul.”

Following the performance, engage in a conversation with Dr. Alix Pierre, PhD, Senior Lecturer of African Diaspora and the World at Spelman College, for deeper insight into the work’s themes and creative process.

Dec. 1–7

AfriKin Art Fair 2025 — Through Creation, We Find Meaning: Scenes From Home

11:00 AM – 9:00 PM | Scott Galvin Center

Step into the 11th annual AfriKin Art Fair, South Florida’s leading contemporary African art fair during Miami Art Week and Art Basel Miami Beach. Curated by Dr. Joseph L. Underwood, Scenes From Home explores how creativity becomes a lifeline in times of solitude, struggle, and transformation. This year’s theme draws on global revolutionary thinkers, inviting visitors to consider art as a conduit for meaning, memory, and transcendence.

Experience dynamic exhibitions of contemporary African and diasporic artists, immersive installations, live performances, and engaging dialogues on creativity, community, and sustainability. AfriKin offers a convergence of heritage, innovation, and forward-thinking cultural production—an essential destination for collectors, cultural workers, and curious explorers alike.

Dec. 4 – 6
From Canvas to Camera: Overtown in Focus — Juried Youth Photography Exhibition
4:00 PM – 7:00 PM, 12:00 PM – 3:00 PM Saturday | Children’s Village
Kick off this three-day celebration with the debut of Then and Now, pairing rarely seen works by Purvis Young with contemporary photographs by URGENT, Inc.’s Our Voice Matters youth. The opening night features a juried youth exhibition evaluated by community and industry professionals, plus music and activities honoring Overtown’s past and present.

Dec. 4–6
REVOLT Art Fair
11:00 AM – 6:00 PM | Ice Palace Studios

Experience Dual Currency: Defiance by Design, a curatorial vision shaped by Amy Andrieux and Zindzi Harley, who bring their shared commitment to Black art, culture, and community to this year’s fair. Drawing from their work with institutions such as MoCADA, Parsons School of Design, the African American Museum in Philadelphia, and Black Girls in Art Spaces, the curators highlight Black creativity as both cultural and economic power.

Explore artwork from more than 50 Black artists through installations across the exhibition space and digital spotlights from around the world. The fair concludes with a Saturday night celebration that brings together art, music, and community.

Dec. 4–7
Hampton Art Lovers Presents: Point Comfort Art Fair

12:00 PM – 6:00 PM | Historic Ward Rooming House

Art, history, and community come together at the Point Comfort Art Fair + Show, presented by Hampton Art Lovers in Historic Overtown during Miami Art Week/Art Basel/Soul Basel 2025. This year’s theme, Life & Times of Frederick Douglass, honors the legacy of one of America’s most influential abolitionists through contemporary artistic perspectives. Visitors can explore an outdoor art fair featuring an expansive tent and garden gallery showcasing works by Carl E. Moore, Tasanee Durrett, Musa Hixon, Tiffani Glenn, Chris Clark, Brandon Clarke, Benford Stellmacher, Phillip Shung, Judy Bowman, Rodney “Buck” Herring, and Milton Mizell—artists whose work reflects identity, transformation, and empowerment.

Dec. 3–7

Bison at Basel 

Various Times & Locations

Howard University’s Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts returns to Art Basel Miami Beach for its fourth year with Bison at Basel, a five-day celebration of artistic excellence, cultural innovation, and the global influence of Black creatives. Under the theme “Such is the Time for Art,” the program features curated exhibitions, panels, and networking events amplifying Black artistic voices and fostering intergenerational mentorship. Regist

Dec. 3

VIP Collector’s & Wine Salon Reception 

6:30 PM | Private Location

HBCU Social (sponsored by Prizm)

9:00 PM | Private Location

Dec. 4

Purpose and Passion: The Role of HBCUs in the Global Art Market

10:00 AM – 11:30 AM | Key Art Fair

Chat & Chew: Fireside Chat 

12:00 PM – 2:00 PM | Key Art Fair

Cre.AI.tive Revolution: The Art of Change Is Now

2:30 PM – 4:00 PM | Key Art Fair

Opening Reception: Student Art Exhibition

7:00 PM – 10:00 PM | Key Art Fair

Dec. 5

Galleria, Curator, Museum or Collector: Navigating Your Pathway

10:00 AM – 11:30 AM | Key Art Fair

Alumni Art Exhibition 

10:00 AM – 6:00 PM | Center for Black Innovation

Dean Dana Williams Book Tour

2:00 PM – 4:00 PM | Center for Black Innovation

Alumni Art Exhibition Reception

7:00 PM – 10:00 PM | Center for Black Innovation

Dec. 6

Buckhead Art Company at Basel: “Color, Consciousness & Contemporary Identity”

4:00 PM | Key Art Fair

Closing Reception: Student Art Exhibition & Basel After Dark

7:00 PM – 10:00 PM | Key Art Fair

Dec. 4–6

Saint & Citizen Presents: Saint Week

Various Times | Rubell Museum 

21+

Saint & Citizen presents  their second Annual Basel takeover featuring immersive performances, boundary-pushing conversations, and transformative experiences led by some of the most influential figures in music, fashion, art, and design.

Programming includes a conceptual performance by Clipse merging sound and installation, late-night sets from Miguel, Kaytranada and KWN in the Citizen’s Lounge, and conversations with Ty Dolla $ign, Kaytranada, DJ Spinall, Prince Gyasi, Nelson Makamo, LaQuan Smith, Emma Grede, Damson Idris, and Jamaal Burkmar in Saint Sessions Live and Café Citizen. 

Dec. 4

Saint Sessions Live: Niska Garoute

11:00 AM – 4:00 PM | Rubell Museum 

Citizen’s Lounge: OSO CITY w/ DJ Sachi Sounds 

8:00 PM – 12:00 AM | Rubell Museum 

Dec. 5

Let God Sort ’Em Out: Clipse Immersive Experience

7:00 PM – 9:00 PM | Rubell Museum 

Saint Sessions Live: Damson Idris

Moderator: Jamaal Burkmar

2:00 PM – 4:00 PM | Rubell Museum 

Café Citizen: Nelson Makamo & Prince Gyasi

11:00 AM – 4:00 PM | Rubell Museum 

Dec. 6

Saint Sessions Live: Emma Grede & LaQuan Smith

Moderator: Estelle Lavaud

2:00 PM – 4:00 PM | Rubell Museum 

Citizen’s Lounge: SPINALL & KWN w/ Paperwater & DJ Rashida

8:00 PM – 2:00 AM | Rubell Museum 

Dec. 3-5

PRIZM Edition XIII — The Brighter Side of the Moon

Various Times & Locations

Building on more than a decade of impact, PRIZM Edition XIII returns with a dynamic program connecting artists, collectors, and cultural institutions through conversation, celebration, and acquisition. This year’s theme, The Brighter Side of the Moon, brings together twenty-five artists from across the African Diaspora and emerging markets for an exploration of resilience, imagination, and cultural connection. Works from the exhibition will be available through the Acquire Works Menu on prizm.art, offering access to a curated selection of contemporary art reflecting the depth and diversity of global Black experience.

Dec. 3
PRIZM VIP Reception — Edition XIII Preview Event
6:00 PM – 8:30 PM | The Carter Project Miami, 3333 NW 6th Ave
An elegant evening convening artists, patrons, and cultural leaders, featuring a keynote conversation with PRIZM Founder Mikhaile Solomon. Celebrate 13 years of championing artists of Africa and its Diaspora.

PRIZM HBCU Social
9:00 PM – 11:00 PM | The Carter Project Miami, 3333 NW 6th Ave
A Miami Art Week celebration honoring the profound impact of Historically Black Colleges and Universities on contemporary artistic practice and visual arts pedagogy. An evening of music, art, community, and joy.

Dec. 5
PRIZM Panels Series
12:00 PM – 6:00 PM | Soho Pool House, 105–107 NE 25th St
Join scholars, artists, cultural practitioners, and thought leaders for rigorous dialogue on African and African Diaspora arts discourse. Featuring conversations, film-based engagements, and a community lunch (2:00 PM – 4:00 PM).
Priority access for Prizm Members: Pulsar, Galaxy & Universe.

Dec. 5 – 6
Highlander Center — SOUL! Screening: “Shades of Soul”
12 PM | NW 9th St Pedestrian Mall, Overtown
Join Highlander Center, MUCE305, and Miami-based organizers for a public screening of a classic episode of SOUL!—America’s pioneering Black variety show. Hosted by Felipe Luciano and featuring performances by Tito Puente, Willie Colón, and Hector Lavoe, this 1972 episode highlights the vibrance of Latin music within Black cultural expression. The screening takes place in the newly revitalized 9th St Pedestrian Mall, whose terrazzo plaza draws inspiration from Kente cloth and honors the heritage of the Overtown community.

Dec. 3–6

Art of Transformation – At the Edge of Entanglement

Various Times & Locations

Now in its 13th year, the Art of Transformation returns as a premier showcase of global Black creativity, transforming historic Opa-locka into an open-air museum of exhibitions, performances, and community celebration. Spanning six dynamic exhibitions across five venues, AOT offers a full slate of artist talks, panels, live performances, and gatherings that reflect the innovation and unity of the African Diaspora.

The 2025 theme, At the Edge of Entanglement, explores the complex cultural, historical, and political forces shaping Black art today. The exhibition series examines how artists navigate identity, resilience, and liberation—transforming struggle into creation. 

Dec. 3
Art of Transformation — Unveiling: African Diaspora Memory in Motion
5:00 PM – 6:00 PM | The Garden of Humanity, 757 Ali Baba Ave.

Art of Transformation — Grand Opening Reception
6:00 PM – 9:00 PM | The ARC, 675 Ali Baba Ave.
Celebrate the official opening of the 13th annual Art of Transformation, featuring six exhibitions presented across Opa-locka’s historic arts district. The evening includes a special four-part performance of “Carrying Things” by interdisciplinary artist Arsimmer McCoy, with Dani Amaro and Clinton “Tazz” Harris.
Live Jazz by Simon Mogul & Curtis Lundy
• Set 1: 9:00 PM – 9:45 PM
• Set 2: 10:00 PM – 10:45 PM
• Set 3: 11:00 PM – 11:45 PM

Evening Lounge Experience
9:00 PM – 12:00 AM | Historic Train Station, 490 Ali Baba Ave.
Live Jazz — Simon Mogul (Evening Sets)
9:00 PM – 11:45 PM | The Garden of Humanity, 757 Ali Baba Ave.

Dec. 4
At the Edge of Entanglement: The Re-Enchantment of the World in African American Art — Artist Panel
12:00 PM – 1:00 PM | The ARC, 675 Ali Baba Ave.

Jamaica On Our Minds — A Night for Recovery
6:00 PM – 9:00 PM | The ARC, 675 Ali Baba Ave.

Evening Lounge Experience — Live Music
9:00 PM – 11:45 PM | Historic Train Station, 490 Ali Baba Ave.

Dec. 5
Art as Legacy: Honoring 100 Years of Opa-locka
10:00 AM – 11:00 AM | Historic Train Station, 490 Ali Baba Ave.

Flash Point: Issues in Black Women Photography
11:00 AM – 12:00 PM | The ARC, 675 Ali Baba Ave.

Opa-locka Historic City Hall Art Opening
6:00 PM – 10:00 PM | Opa-locka Historic City Hall, 777 Sharazad Blvd.
Featuring two major exhibitions:
• Loan Me Your Dreams: African and African Diaspora Art of the Ten North Collection
• The Art of Carnaval: Not All Works of Art Hang on a Wall

Live Jazz — Simon Mogul (Evening Sets)
9:00 PM – 11:45 PM | Opa-locka Historic City Hall, 777 Sharazad Blvd.

Dec. 6
Art Basel Miami Beach VIP Program — The Frederick Douglass Annual Lecture
10:00 AM – 11:30 AM | The ARC, 675 Ali Baba Ave.

Guided Walking Tour of Historic Opa-locka
12:30 PM – 2:30 PM | Begins at Historic Opa-locka Train Station, 490 Ali Baba Ave.

The post The 2025 Black Art Guide to Art Week Miami appeared first on Sugarcane Magazine ™| Black Art Magazine.