A spokesperson describes the event as follows:
“...Illuminating aesthetic connections among 60 artists working in Africa, Europe, and the Americas, the exhibition and its accompanying catalogue are among the first to examine nearly a quarter century of production by Black artists. “Diaspora” is a word typically associated with displacement. People move and are forcibly moved, and their cultures disperse. But diasporas also provoke creative acts of survival, as people reinvent their heritage through art. Artists featured in the exhibition interpret their heritage through the clues and motifs their predecessors left behind. Some reflect on the impact of the slave trade, while others respond to migrants’ experiences in this century. Imagining Black Diasporas expands the Pan-African exhibition canon, which has historically focused on the Black Atlantic by showcasing artists working adjacent to the Pacific. The exhibition presents artists across generations including established makers Igshaan Adams, Mark Bradford, Sanford Biggers, Nick Cave, Deana Lawson, Ibrahim Mahama, Abdoulaye Ndoye, Wangechi Mutu, Lorna Simpson, and Yinka Shonibare. The works of emerging and mid-career artists Tunji Adeniyi-Jones, Josué Azor, Samuel de Saboia, Susana Pilar Delahante Matienzo, Chioma Ebinama, Chelsea Odufu, Zohra Opoku, and Alberta Whittle are presented with L.A.–based artists including Edgar Arceneaux, Widline Cadet, Patrisse Cullors, Awol Erizku, and Paul Mpagi Sepuya..."
