Using found objects, Rina Banerjee illuminates the obscured histories of Black and South Asian populations in New Orleans.
Figuration the body and representation
Based on magazines dating from the 1930s to the 1970s aimed at African-American audiences, Gallagher's witty and sophisticated interventions emphasize the complex construction of identity.
Ellen Galagher, DeLuxe
This monumental painting of Black people at the beach speaks to a dearth of Black figures in the art history canon
Amy Sherald, Precious Jewels by the Sea
This memorial honors three women who were victims of medical experimentation by the "father of gynecology"
Michelle Browder, Mothers of Gynecology
A monumental solution, rethinking the sculpture of Richmond
Kehinde Wiley, Rumors of War
Referencing the photographs of Edward Curtis, Wilson intends to produce a contemporary visual reimagining of Native American culture through his photographs.
Will Wilson, Critical Indigenous Photographic Exchange
In his New York City studio, Takashi Murakami discusses his three-decades-long practice in which he blends traditional and modern art techniques to create enormous paintings with a visual power unmatched in contemporary art.
Takashi Murakami
Mofokeng lives in Johannesburg where he began his career as a photojournalist, but has long been engaged with the poetic and symbolic potential of black and white photography.
Figures & Fictions: Santu Mofokeng
Opie has been using photography as a means of self-expression—and making friends through taking their portraits—since age nine.
Catherine Opie, Self-Portrait/Cutting
Iranian visual artist Shirin Neshat uses film, video, and photography to explore issues of gender and identity, with a particular focus on women's relationships with religious cultural systems of Islam.
Shirin Neshat, ‘Dreams Are Where Our Fears ...
Taking its name from Toni Morrison's debut novel, this painting shows the clash of innocence and the adult violence of bigotry and hatred.
Stefanie Jackson, Bluest Eye
As the ideas and perspectives from non-white artists, queer artists, and those with other intersectional identities were given space in the museum throughout the 1990s, the terrain of art history began to shift as well.
Identity Politics: From the Margins to the ...
Renée Stout explains the personal and found objects included in her life-size sculpture “Fetish #2"
Renée Stout, interview about Fetish #2
For this series, Opie photographed football games and players in seven states across America—but looked past clichés associated with the sport
Catherine Opie, Figure and Landscape series
Go behind the scenes with contemporary artist Wangechi Mutu, who discusses the inspiration and making of The NewOnes, will free Us, an exhibition of four sculpture that inaugurate The Met's annual facade commission
Wangechi Mutu, The NewOnes, will free Us
American-prairie style and Civil War Antebellum style dresses made out of green screen material conjure images of specific time periods in American history, as well as the tropes of womanhood, Western expansion, and Puritanism
Stephanie Syjuco, The Visible Invisible
Hurtado celebrates her first solo exhibition and discusses how her experience of motherhood and her commitment to environmental activism merge in her most recent body of work
Luchita Hurtado’s body of work
Contemporary artist Jordan Casteel paints vibrant large scale portraits, making visible the often unrepresented humanity of Black men
Jordan Casteel paints her community
Contemporary artist Maryam Hoseini discusses her abstracted, fragmented figures in her 2019 series of paintings reimagining the 12th-century poem about Laylah and Majnun
Browse Smarthistory images for teaching & learning!
