Latest News in Black Art features updates and developments in the world of art and related culture
Ingrid Pollard reflects on her work and winning the 2024 Hasselblad Award. When she was first contacted about the honor, Pollard assumed it was a scam. After realizing she indeed was the recipient, she thought about being able to take more time to develop a project and extend beyond herself to provide opportunities for young photographers. | Video by Hasselblad Foundation
AWARDS & HONORS
Ingrid Pollard Wins Hasselblad Photography Award
The Hasselblad Foundation announced British photographer Ingrid Pollard is the recipient of the 2024 Hasselblad Award, one of the top photography prizes in the world. The honor includes a cash award of SEK 2,000,000 (nearly US $200,000), a gold medal, and a Hasselblad camera. Pollard “uses photography to question deeply engrained social and cultural constructs behind race, identity, community, and gender. Her work reveals subtle and starkly evident injustices through her engagement with the British landscape, iconography, and identity, as well as challenging the medium of photography and its history.” In 2022, Pollard was nominated for the Turner Prize. She was born in Guyana, grew up in London, and is now based in Northumberland, Northeast England. Pollard will be honored at an Oct. 11 ceremony in Gothenburg, Sweden. An exhibition of her work opens the same day at the Hasselblad Center, accompanied by a new publication. (3/8) | More
Amina Agueznay Wins South African Art Prize
Norval Foundation and The Sovereign Art Foundation (SAF) announced Amina Agueznay is the grand prize winner of the 2024 Norval Sovereign African Art Prize. “I’m over the moon and honored more than anything else,” Agueznay said. The Moroccan-born multi-media artist earned a bachelor’s degree in architecture at Catholic University in Washington, D.C. Her work will be on view through May 12, along with contributions by the other finalists, in a group exhibition at the Norval Foundation in Cape Town, South Africa. The honor includes a $35,000 prize and the opportunity to present a solo exhibition at the Norval Foundation. (2/19) | CNN
ALBERTA WHITTLE, “Genealogies of Chosen Family (Sekai Machache),” 2024 (acrylic with water from the Osun River, Nigeria, on linen, painted wooden frame with fretwork, 68 7/8 x 62 1/2 x 2 3/8 inches / 174.9 x 158.8 x 6 cm). | © Alberta Whittle, Courtesy the artist and Regen Projects
REPRESENTATION
Alberta Whittle Joins Regen Projects
Regen Projects in Los Angeles announced its representation of Alberta Whittle. Her multidisciplinary practice is “motivated by the desire to manifest self-compassion and collective care as key methods in battling anti-Blackness.” She works across sculpture, drawing, digital collage, film, performance, and writing. “Alberta Whittle: Learning a new punctuation for hope in times of disaster,” her inaugural exhibition with the gallery, opened March 16. The show features “Lagareh – The Last Born” (2022), a single-channel video, with a series of paintings and sculpture. Born in Barbados, Whittle is based in Glasgow, Scotland. She represented Scotland at the 59th Venice Biennale in 2022. (2/14)| More
Mendes Wood Represents Julien Creuzet
Mendes Wood DM added French artist and poet Julien Creuzet (right) to its roster. In April, Creuzet is representing France with a solo exhibition at the 60th Venice Biennale. He produces sculpture, installations, and textual interventions that explore his “diasporic experience. Inspired by the poetic and philosophical reflections of Aimé Césaire and Édouard Glissant on creolization and migration, Creuzet’s work focuses on the troubled intersection of the history of Martinique and the events of European modernity.” Mendes Wood was founded in São Paulo, Brazil, and has locations in New York, Brussels, and Paris. Creuzet’s first solo exhibition with the gallery will be on view in Brussels in 2025. He also works with Andrew Kreps Gallery in New York and Document Space in Chicago. (2/23) | Artdaily
Mendes Wood Adds Coco Fusco
New York-based, Cuban-American artist Coco Fusco joined Mendes Wood DM. Over the past three decades, her research-based practice has focused on “the complexities of race, colonialism, exile, gender, identity, and the shaping of possible new societies.” Fusco works across performance, video, exhibition practice, archival research, and formal writings. A retrospective of the artist, “Tomorrow, I Will Become an Island” (2023) was presented at the KW Institute of Contemporary Art in Berlin, Germany. In 2025, the show travels to the MACBA in Barcelona, Spain. Her video installation “Coco Fusco: Your Eyes Will Be an Empty Word” is currently on view at Cal State Fullerton’s Grand Central Art Center in Santa Ana, Calif. Mendes Wood was founded in São Paulo, Brazil, and has locations in New York, Brussels, and Paris. Last fall, the gallery presented “With Others in Mind,” Fusco’s first solo exhibition in São Paulo. (2/21) | More
IMAGE: Above right, Julien Creuzet. | Photo by Virginie Ribaut
APPOINTMENTS
New CEO at Black Museum Association
Vedet Coleman-Robinson was promoted to president and CEO of the Association of African American Museums (AAAM), a member organization that supports museums and individual professionals focused on African and African American art, history, and culture. Before accepting a staff role, Coleman-Robinson served on AAAM’s membership committee. Previously, she spent 11 years at the National Park Service focusing on grant programs for the State, Tribal, Local, Plans & Grants Division and Historically Black Colleges and Universities. (3/26) | More
Heckscher Museum Hires New Operations Director
The Heckscher Museum of Art in Huntington, N.Y., appointed Evan Waddy-Farr to the newly created role of director of operations and strategic initiatives. Waddy-Farr is a Morehouse alum who brings more than a dozen years of experience, including nonprofit operations and development, project management, grant writing, and a background in K-12 teaching and working with youth. Previously, he was director of curriculum and director of development at 4th Family Inc., in Albany, N.Y., a nonprofit focused on teen mentorship. He started at the museum in January. (2/9) | More
DESIGN
Cookware by Chef Eric Adjepong at Crate & Barrel
Chef Eric Adjepong has a new collaboration with Crate & Barrel, a 60-piece collection featuring cookware, serveware, glassware, textiles, and decor. The designs are inspired by his Ghanaian heritage and New York City, where he was born and raised. The selections include a large-sized ridged wood mortar and pestle (asanka); jewel-toned, organic-shaped dinnerware; and metal trivets in the form of a Sankofa bird and the Nea Onnim symbol. Adjepong is an alum of Top Chef season 16 and has become a regular on the Food Network, competing on “Tournament of Champions,” hosting “Alex vs. America,” co-starring on “Beachside Brawl,” and recently launching a new show, “Wildcard Kitchen.” He is the author of the children’s book “Sankofa: A Culinary Story of Resilience and Belonging” and his first cookbook coming soon. (3/21) | More
FILM
Film Directors Buy Westwood Movie Theater
A diverse group of 36 film directors, including Gina Prince-Bythewood, Steven Spielberg, and Bradley Cooper, purchased a Los Angeles movie theater that has hosted countless premieres over the decades. Jason Reitman led the acquisition of the Village Theater in the Westwood village community adjacent to UCLA. The historic theater first opened in 1931 and last summer was put on the market for $12 million. The directors acted to save the theater out of concern that the big-screen moviegoing experience is in jeopardy and to prevent the landmark from potentially being torn down and replaced by new development. Rian Johnson, Guillermo Del Toro, Christopher Nolan, Lulu Wang, Alfonso Cuarón, and Justin Lin, are also among the directors involved. “Once renovated, the Village Theater will showcase a mixture of first-run films and repertory programming curated by the group,” according to the report. “The collective also intends to keep the theater open while plans for a restaurant, bar and gallery are finalized.” (2/21) | New York Times
Travis Kelce is Co-Producing Basquiat Documentary
“Jean-Michel Basquiat: King Pleasure,” a sprawling exhibition of rarely seen works by Jean-Michel Basquiat was organized by the artist’s estate. The show opened in New York in 2022, traveled to Los Angeles, and was accompanied by a catalog. Now a feature documentary of the same name is underway with Boardwalk Pictures and Quinn Wilson, Lizzo’s former creative director. NFL star Travis Kelce is among the producers. He is a tight end on the Kansas City Chiefs, who won the Super Bowl last month. The Basquiat project is Kelce’s second foray into the film world following his executive producer role on “My Dead Friend Zoe.” The dark comedy cost less than $10 million to make and was the first film financed with renewable energy tax credits from the Inflation Reduction Act. “King Pleasure” has been in the works since summer 2023. (2/13) | Variety
MORE NEWS
Oprah’s WeightWatchers Stock Goes to Smithsonian Museum
Oprah Winfrey announced she is leaving the board of directors of WeightWatchers International and donating her WW shares to the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) in Washington, D.C. She had served on the WW board since 2015 and appeared in commercials for the weight loss and weight management company. The billionaire media mogul held 1.1 million shares of WW, making her the largest individual stakeholder, owning 1.43 percent of the company. The stake was worth about $3.18 million at the time of the announcement, according to reports. She will continue to collaborate with the company and “intends to donate the proceeds from any future exercises of her WW stock options to NMAAHC.” Winfrey is an advisory council member, founding supporter, and the largest donor to the Smithsonian museum. Her previous gifts total $13 million. (2/28) | More
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