“Giants: Art from the Dean Collection of Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys “ at the Brooklyn Museum

As Black History Month draws to a close, we shine a light on one of New York's remarkable exhibits celebrating Black culture and its profound connection with art. This exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum is the product of the vision of two influential figures in the music industry: Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz (Kasseem Dean) who have been passionately collecting works for over two decades, and who are now eager to share their extraordinary collection with the world. This collection, which features 98 artworks by Black American, African, and African diasporic artists including Gordon Parks, Kehinde Wiley, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Hassan Hajjaj to name a few, explores many themes including Black identity and creativity. This celebration of Black artists and culture, according to Ms. Keys  “want(s) you to see that you are also a giant, that you are special, incredible, unique, one of a kind.” Make sure you experience the exhibit before it closes on July 7th!

“Freedom’s Stand” by Faheem Majeed

As we celebrate Black History Month, we look upon the work of artist, curator, community facilitator, and educator Faheem Majeed,  a modern-day Renaissance Man who creates works of art focused on institutional critique and cultural experiences. Mr. Majeed’s current installation on display at The High Line “Freedom’s Stand” pays homage to Freedom’s Journal, the first Black-owned-and operated newspaper in New York City that was launched in 1827 to counter act existing newspapers at the time that encouraged slavery and attacked African Americans. Drawing inspiration from a range of renowned, community driven work including Chicago’s Wall of Respect and the Community Mural Movement, the artist’s sculpture, modeled after West Mali’s Dogon Tribe granaries, exhibits  a sampling of headlines, photographs, ads, and articles from historical and present day Black newspapers. The monthly changing content educates spectators on vital issues, as Freedom’s Journal educated the Black community hundreds of years ago.

NYC Parks Renaming Project: Celebrating Black Leaders

In June 2020, in the wake of the murder of George Floyd and the subsequent national dialogue about race and justice, NYC Parks “pledged to demonstrate how it stands in solidarity with the Black community in its fight to combat systemic racism.” Since making this pledge, the Parks agency has named twenty-eight parks spaces to honor the Black community. Many of them are named after prominent Black Americans, including civil rights leaders, artists, activists, educators, athletes, local community leaders, and more. The project aims to “encourage discourse about their contributions, and work to make the park system more diverse and reflective of the people it serves.” For this year’s Black History Month, NYC Parks put together an exhibition at the Arsenal Gallery in Central Park featuring highlights from this expansive project. Historical photos sourced from the Municipal and National Archives, the New York Public Library, the NYC Parks Photo Archive, and several other sources are on display in the gallery alongside contemporary photos. These photos are contextualized by wall plaques giving information on the park locations and the Black leaders for whom the spaces are named.

Opportunity



Black in Time

In honor of Black History Month, FIT’s Black Student Union presents an interactive exhibition featuring work by students, faculty, alumni, and invited artists that illustrates the “constant evolution of black art” and educates visitors about black fashion, art, and music, from ancient Egypt to the modern day. The exhibition aims to celebrate the “evolution of black culture by going beyond the narrative of slavery and back to the rich heritage of culture and tradition in Africa and its expansion worldwide.” It showcases a selection of stunning fashion designs, educational exhibits (including one called “Threads of Bondage” that discusses hidden African American contributions to couture), videos, and artwork. We found the exhibit to be highly educational and informative. It is on view through March 8 just down the street from our office at the FIT’s Pomerantz Center’s Art and Design Gallery.

Triumph of the Human Spirit

Triumph of the Human Spirit is one of the sculptures that the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation is highlighting during Black History Month to honor the African American experience. This fifty-foot granite abstract sculpture, by artist Lorenzo Pace, is inspired by the “Chi Wara” carved antelope headdresses of the Bamana people in Mali, West Africa, and sits within a boat-like structure symbolizing the “middle passage” of enslaved Africans to the West Indies and Americas. Set in Foley Square in downtown Manhattan near the site of a Colonial-era African-American burial ground where as many as 10,000 men, women, and children were interred (residents of African descent in New Amsterdam and New York were enslaved from 1625 until 1827), the sculpture “symbolizes freedom and endurance.” The park’s signage also notes: “Besides its universal message, it was created with the artist’s own personal ancestry in mind, and its granite base contains a replica of the inherited lock and key which were used to enslave his great-great grandfather Steve Pace.”

Identity

Left to Right: Roman Flowers, Glory, and The Reminders by Krystle Collins

In honor of Black History Month, Identity features works in fiber by nine artists that explore imagery of people of the African Diaspora. The exhibit, curated by Michelle Bishop of Harlem Needle Arts and presented with the NYC Parks Ebony Society, which has helped organize the annual Black History Month exhibition at the Arsenal Gallery since 1991, presents pieces in a variety of media including embroidery, soft sculpture, quilt, and mixed media. I especially loved the inventive embroidery pieces by Krystle Collins. Located at the Arsenal building at 5th Avenue and 64th Street, the pieces have "elements of swag, spirituality, icons, music, and social justice" and "the works illustrate self-awareness, identify, motivation, and varying backgrounds and traditions that govern the artists’ lives." The exhibit is on display through February 23, 2018.