The Photography of Kwame Brathwaite, exhibited at Museum of the African Diaspora December 4, 2019-March 1, 2020. Photo credit: MoAD
INTERNATIONAL CONTEMPORARY WORK ON EXHIBITION Recently, the MoAD presented the first solo museum exhibitions of two highly recognized contemporary artists from Africa: Ghanaian artist Amoako Boafo in The Soul of Black Folks and Malawian artist Billie Zangewa’s silk collages in Threads of a Web. White also highlights new artists they’ve been able to showcase through their Emerging Artist Program. “We have an impressive record of identifying exciting artists ready to step into a full-fledged career as professional, international artists. This year, we have featured Cynthia Aurora Brannvall, Richard-Jonathon Nelson, Trina Michelle Robinson, and Ashley Ross. Last year we had Sydney Cain! In the past, we presented Chanell Stone. The list goes on. So many exciting new artists.” A current exhibit, The New Black Vanguard, curated by Antwaun Sargent, explores the intersection of fashion and contemporary art through the work of over 15 photographers.
These include professional photographers focused on fashion and contemporary artists integrating fashion into their work. “These artists are pushing boundaries while focusing fashion front and center,” says White. To highlight three of the included artists, Tyler Mitchell was the first photographer to shoot a Vogue cover - in 2018. Quil Lemons explores representations of Black masculinity. Arielle Bobb-Willis, an artist who speaks openly about her experience with depression, explores the visible and the invisible through fashion. An upcoming exhibition of which the MoAD is quite proud will be Black Venus. “Black Venus is a powerful exhibition, including eighteen artists whose work focuses on the legacy of Black women in visual culture, curated by a powerful woman, Andrea Emilife. The exhibition is a celebration of Black beauty, the many faces of Black femininity, and the shaping of Black women in the public consciousness then and now,” says White.
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