London
“Back to Black—Art, Cinema and the Racial Imaginary”
Whitechapel Gallery
77 - 82 Whitechapel High Street
June 7–September 4, 2005
Curated by Patrine Archer-Straw, David A. Bailey, and Richard J. Powell
Though historical categories have formed the basis for many recent exhibitions on black art, “Back to Black” is unique in its transnational and interdisciplinary approach to the heyday of black political consciousness, namely the ’60s and ’70s. Selecting forty-five artists from the US, Britain, and the Caribbean, the curators have used their academic acumen to present a vast swath of diasporic works and concepts, from the originative (Romare Bearden) to the brilliantly blaxploitational (Melvin Van Peebles) to the perennially cool (David Hammons).
Travels to the New Art Gallery Walsall, England, Sept. 30–Nov. 20.