The British-Ghanaian curator, journalist, and broadcaster Ekow Eshun has opened “probably the most consequential” show ever done at the National Portrait Gallery, according to its Director.
The exhibition, entitled ‘The Time is Always Now’, features 55 contemporary works of sculpture, painting and drawing by 22 African diasporic artists working in the UK and America.
Alongside a new sculptural work created especially for the Gallery, the exhibition includes works displayed in the UK for the first time, as well as paintings rarely shown in public art galleries.
Ekow explains that through Western history, the Black figure has been “overlooked or misrepresented or depicted without agency” and uses this series of works from the 21st Century to “invite the shifting gaze”.
The show has been in the works for over five years as Ekow chose the Gallery because it focuses on the figure.
This is not, however, an exhibition of portraits, “it’s an exhibition around figuration, but it centres on people and presence and power, sometimes powerlessness.”
The collection aims to subvert the concept of an exhibition in this gallery and grapples with identity, using the historical institution as a contextual backdrop.
In 2022, Ekow unveiled a critically-acclaimed exhibition at the Hayward Gallery, ‘In the Black Fantastic’, and says this curation process taught him “the importance of giving space to work” so the pieces can “speak for themselves”.
In the period between exhibitions, Ekow says there have been many a “sleepless night” spent pondering how to “create a space where the works can talk to each other and where the audience can have a relationship with the work that hopefully is meaningful”.
This year’s exhibition title – taken from an essay on desegregation by the American author, James Baldwin – was chosen by Ekow for its sense of urgency; a reminder that while Black artists are experiencing a moment of flourishing, that their work exists within an always-evolving artistic lineage.
The artworks recount the many lived experiences of the Black figure in the West, as Ekow explains when describing American artist Noah Davis’ ‘1975’.
Noah Davis, 1975
Ekow says “the beauty and the joy of that painting sits on a very fragile base” which at first glances appears to be a calm summers day at the swimming pool, but “invites reflection on the fraughtness of American history, on the long history of segregation, of social spaces”.
The show is structured in three parts -‘Double Consciousness’, ‘Persistence of History’ and ‘Kinship and Connection’ – inspired by sociology, historical narratives, and assembly.
The ticketed exhibition runs from the 22nd February to the 19th May at the National Portrait Gallery, before going on tour.
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Headline‘Sleepless nights’ go into National Portrait Gallery’s newest exhibition
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StandfirstNever-before-seen-work displayed as part of Ekow Eshun's major exhibition exploring the Black figure.
The British-Ghanaian curator, journalist, and broadcaster Ekow Eshun has opened “probably the most consequential” show ever done at the National Portrait Gallery, according to its Director.
The exhibition, entitled ‘The Time is Always Now’, features 55 contemporary works of sculpture, painting and drawing by 22 African diasporic artists working in the UK and America.
Alongside a new sculptural work created especially for the Gallery, the exhibition includes works displayed in the UK for the first time, as well as paintings rarely shown in public art galleries.
Ekow explains that through Western history, the Black figure has been “overlooked or misrepresented or depicted without agency” and uses this series of works from the 21st Century to “invite the shifting gaze”.
The show has been in the works for over five years as Ekow chose the Gallery because it focuses on the figure.
This is not, however, an exhibition of portraits, “it’s an exhibition around figuration, but it centres on people and presence and power, sometimes powerlessness.”
The collection aims to subvert the concept of an exhibition in this gallery and grapples with identity, using the historical institution as a contextual backdrop.
In 2022, Ekow unveiled a critically-acclaimed exhibition at the Hayward Gallery, ‘In the Black Fantastic’, and says this curation process taught him “the importance of giving space to work” so the pieces can “speak for themselves”.
In the period between exhibitions, Ekow says there have been many a “sleepless night” spent pondering how to “create a space where the works can talk to each other and where the audience can have a relationship with the work that hopefully is meaningful”.
This year’s exhibition title – taken from an essay on desegregation by the American author, James Baldwin – was chosen by Ekow for its sense of urgency; a reminder that while Black artists are experiencing a moment of flourishing, that their work exists within an always-evolving artistic lineage.
The artworks recount the many lived experiences of the Black figure in the West, as Ekow explains when describing American artist Noah Davis’ ‘1975’.
Noah Davis, 1975
Ekow says “the beauty and the joy of that painting sits on a very fragile base” which at first glances appears to be a calm summers day at the swimming pool, but “invites reflection on the fraughtness of American history, on the long history of segregation, of social spaces”.
The show is structured in three parts -‘Double Consciousness’, ‘Persistence of History’ and ‘Kinship and Connection’ – inspired by sociology, historical narratives, and assembly.
The ticketed exhibition runs from the 22nd February to the 19th May at the National Portrait Gallery, before going on tour.
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