Artwork from the NMAAHC’s “Reckoning” and the National Gallery of Art’s “Afro-American Histories” Exhibits: Part I

During our time in Washington D.C., we visited countless museums, and as usual, countless pieces of art impacted me, specifically at the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) and at the National Gallery of Art’s Afro-Atlantic Histories exhibit. Today, I want to highlight a few of the pieces from these museums, notably because the relate, in many ways, to things I have been writing about on this blog for a while. I can’t detail every piece that stood out, but I would suggest, if you get a chance, to look at the NMAAHC’s Reckoning exhibit online or pick up the Afro-Atlantic Histories, Exhibition Catalog from the National Gallery of Art for more pieces and more detailed discussions of some of the works.

Each of these exhibits highlighted the ways that art works to, as the Reckoning exhibit puts it, “provided its own protest, commentary, escape and perspective for African Americans.” Tuliza Fleming, the chief curator of visual arts at the NMAAHC, stated, “The exhibition seeks to forge connections between the Black Lives Matter protests, racial violence, grief, and mourning, hope and change.” Reckoning does just that through the various pieces within the exhibition. Afro-Atlantic Histories explores these same themes while, as the…