#WhileBlack
Race relations in America

John Akomfrah / Purple (still)

America has had its complicated history. From its early colonialist exchanges with the natives, through the history of slavery of Africans, the McCarthy era, the Cold War, diversity and segregation, racism and its love of arms, and now the rise of a new populism which seems to appeal to the base instincts of our humanity, or the lack thereof.

At once a great nation and an enigma of the highest order, America is a thing of extremes as seldom seen elsewhere, a contradiction unto itself, and a force to contend with.

Once again, the movements of #WhileBlack and Black Lives Matter have been invoked by the swift succession of recent incidents reminding us that the pandemic is not solely from without.

As if the institutionalized violence against the black population were not enough, we witness again the police summoned to intervene on individuals doing perfectly ordinary things: sitting on a porch, jogging in their neighborhood, driving a car, taking a nap in their dormitory lounge, birdwatching… doing mundane things, but simply while black. Calling the police on these individuals must have required a fear and mistrust of others and a curious brand of courage which may clinically deserve a name. We commend the authorities on the many of these incidences where they found no wrong doing on the part of the suspects, who in reality were the actual victims of racial discrimination, or simply being human, while black. On the other hand, fresh incidents of brutality on the part of the police continue to resurface, from rookies to retired members, and the many on highly active duty in between. It seems we still have a long way to go.

From National Geographic’s recent launch of The Race Issue to the photo essay in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday, the exposé on Haitian Art following the U.S. President’s disparaging remarks on black majority nations, to James Baldwin’s collaboration with Richard Avedon in Nothing Personal reissued by Taschen, we continue the conversation on race relations. Today we survey some artists, in America and beyond, who have created, inspired, and engaged, while black.

 

John Akomfrah

John Akomfrah

Jalan & Jibril Durimel

Jalan & Jibril Durimel

Jalan & Jibril Durimel

Jean-Michel Basquiat

Jean-Michel Basquiat

Jean-Michel Basquiat

Julie Mehretu

Julie Mehretu

RaMell Ross /  Hale County This Morning, This Evening (still)

RaMell Ross /  Hale County This Morning, This Evening (still)

RaMell Ross /  Hale County This Morning, This Evening (still)

Frank Walter, King Size Soul, n. d., Photo: Axel Schneider

Frank Walter, installation view MUSEUM MMK FÜR MODERNE KUNST, Photo: Axel Schneider

Tyler Mitchell, Boys of Walthamstow, 2018

Tyler Mitchell, Idyllic Space (still)

Gordon Parks

Gordon Parks

Lorna Simpson

Lorna Simpson

Henry Taylor

Henry Taylor

Henry Taylor

Camille Norment

James Baldwin & Richard Avedon / Nothing Personal

Lawrence Jacob / Studio Museum Harlem

Kapwani Kiwanga, Matières premières, 2020, Photo: Axel Schneider
30 Under 30 Women Photographers / 2023 TAW
Torino Art Week / Exhibition
Presented for Torino Art Week 2023 and in collaboration with Recontemporary in Turin, Artpil proudly announces the 2023 exhibition...
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Torino Art Week 2023
Prescription .144
Torino Art Week 2023 opens the first week of November with events that will fill the city with works...
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Antoni Tàpies. The Practice of Art
Sep 15, 2023 – Jan 7, 2024
A self-taught artist during the interwar period, Tàpies reflected on the human condition, his historical situation and the artistic...
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Dorothea Lange. Tales of Life and Work
Prescription .143
Dorothea Lange's photography, now nearly a hundred years later, continues to resound in its portrayal of a time and...
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Paris Photo 2023
November 9–12, 2023
Paris Photo is the largest art fair dedicated to the photographic medium and is held each November in the...
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REGENERATE
Jun 23 – Dec 10, 2023
With REGENERATE as its theme, the festival brings together works that explore the changes modern society must face, seeing...
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Joel Sternfeld: American Prospects
Sep 28, 2023 – Jan 21, 2024
American Prospects has enjoyed a life of acclaim. Its pages are filled with unexpected excitement, despair, tenderness and hope....
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ARTPIL / Prescription .142
White heat. A Green River.
A bridge, scorched yellow palms from the summer-sleeping house drowsing through August. Days I have held, days I have...
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30 Under 30 Women Photographers / 2023 TAW
Torino Art Week / Exhibition
Presented for Torino Art Week 2023 and in collaboration with Recontemporary in Turin, Artpil proudly announces the 2023 exhibition...
+
Torino Art Week 2023
Prescription .144
Torino Art Week 2023 opens the first week of November with events that will fill the city with works...
+
Antoni Tàpies. The Practice of Art
Sep 15, 2023 – Jan 7, 2024
A self-taught artist during the interwar period, Tàpies reflected on the human condition, his historical situation and the artistic...
+
Dorothea Lange. Tales of Life and Work
Prescription .143
Dorothea Lange's photography, now nearly a hundred years later, continues to resound in its portrayal of a time and...
+
Paris Photo 2023
November 9–12, 2023
Paris Photo is the largest art fair dedicated to the photographic medium and is held each November in the...
+
REGENERATE
Jun 23 – Dec 10, 2023
With REGENERATE as its theme, the festival brings together works that explore the changes modern society must face, seeing...
+
Joel Sternfeld: American Prospects
Sep 28, 2023 – Jan 21, 2024
American Prospects has enjoyed a life of acclaim. Its pages are filled with unexpected excitement, despair, tenderness and hope. Its fears are expressed in beauty, its sadnesses in irony.
+
ARTPIL / Prescription .142
White heat. A Green River.
A bridge, scorched yellow palms from the summer-sleeping house drowsing through August. Days I have held, days I have lost, days that outgrow
+
  • METAmorphosis / OGR Award
    May 17, 2023
    Artissima / OGR
    Turin, Italy

    Launched during the 2022 edition of Artissima, the METAmorphosis project is the second episode of Beyond Production – a conceptual platform born from the collaboration between Fondazione per l’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea CRT and Artissima, in dialogue with the OGR Award, with the aim of stimulating and promoting reflections on the most innovative trends in contemporary art. (more…)