Latest News in Black Art features news updates and developments in the world of art and related culture
Gordon Parks Foundation 2022 Fellows: From left, Bisa Butler. | Photo by Gioncarlo Valentine; Andre D. Wagner. | Photo by Ike Edeani; and Nicole R. Fleetwood. | Courtesy Gordon Parks Foundation
Awards & Honors
The Gordon Parks Foundation announced three 2022 fellows this morning. Artist Bisa Butler and photographer Andre D. Wagner are recipients of the Gordon Parks Foundation Fellowship in Art. Scholar and curator Nicole R. Fleetwood (“Marking Time: Art in the Age of Mass Incarceration”) is the inaugural recipient of the Genevieve Young Fellowship in Writing. A pioneering book editor, Genevieve Young (1930-2020) was the former wife of Parks. She served as executor of his estate and played a critical role in the formation and development of the foundation, from 2006 until her death in 2020. Advancing the legacy of Parks, the fellowships recognize creatives whose practices focus on representation and social justice. Each fellow will receive $25,000 to support their work. | More
On Jan. 24, the American Library Association announced its 2022 youth media award recipients, including winners of the Coretta Scott King Book Awards recognizing exceptional African American authors and illustrators of books for children and young adults. After being longlisted for a National Book Award, “Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre” won Coretta Scott King author (Carole Boston Weatherford) and illustrator (Floyd Cooper) awards. | More
Art Fairs
Due travel restrictions and related challenges caused by the pandemic, the 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair canceled its 2022 Marrakech edition, which was scheduled March 3-6. Days later, 1-54 launched a new brand identity. | More
SABLE ELYSE SMITH, “Riot I,” 2019 (stainless steel with 2k painted finish, 56 x 56 x 56 inches). | Courtesy Sable Elyse Smith and Regen Projects
Representation
Sable Elyse Smith joined Regen Projects in Los Angeles. Smith makes video, sculpture, photography, and text-based works, bringing attention to American systems of inequity. Her first solo exhibition with the gallery will be presented in 2023 in Los Angeles. Smith lives and works in New York. | More
Photographer Lola Flash is now represented by Jenkins Johnson, the Black-owned gallery based in San Francisco, Calif., and Brooklyn, N.Y. Over her three-decade career, Flash has produced work that “challenges stereotypes and gender, sexual, and racial preconceptions.” A member of Kamoinge, she was recently recognized with the 2021 QueerArt | Prize for Sustained Achievement. | More
Appointments
At Frieze Los Angeles (Feb. 17-20), Focus LA will be curated by Amanda Hunt. The section features special projects from young spaces in collaboration with emerging artists Hunt serves as director of Public Programs & Creative Practice at the forthcoming Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles. | More
Felicia A. Swoope (right) was appointed executive director of Newark Arts. A former dancer and producer, Swoope joins the New Jersey nonprofit from Dartmouth College where she served as both assistant director of Admissions Recruiting for the Tuck School of Business and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Strategist for Artivism, a digital platform designed by Walt Cunningham Jr., to help students and faculty showcase their art-based activism. | More
Artist Products
The Ugg x Tschabala Self capsule collection launches Feb. 14. In October, when Tschabalala Self staged “Sounding Board,” her first live performance at Performa, the actors wore footwear the artist designed in collaboration with Ugg. The new collection features heeled boots and Self’s unique takes on classic Ugg styles.
A pair of skateboard decks inspired by Faith Ringgold‘s red, black, and green “For Woman Freedom Now” poster (1971) recently debuted at the MoMA Design Store. | More
CT
IMAGE: Above right, Felicia A. Swoope. | Courtesy Newark Art
