Major Photography Exhibit on the Black Arts Movement on View in Washington, DC

by Fern Gillespie
In an era where federal arts institutions are cautious in exhibiting political Black culture that the Trump administration might deem “Anti-American DEI,” the National Gallery of Art has boldly organized an exhibition that explores the impact of the Black Arts Movement. “Photography and the Black Arts Movement, 1955–1985” through January 11, 2026 at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, is co-curated by renowned Black photography historian, Dr. Deborah Willis and Philip Brookman, a consulting curator for photography at the National Gallery of Art.

During the Black Arts Movement, Black artists embraced Black Power through self-determination and redefined and revolutionized Black culture through visual arts, poetry, theatre, music, photography, fashion, journalism and film. Although the Black Arts Movement was launched by Amiri Baraka and Larry Neal from 1965 to 1975, this exhibit explores Black political and cultural photography pre-dating in 1955, the Civil Rights era, to 1985, the Black progressive period.

“When we think about the Black Arts Movement, it’s mainly painting or literature. Not having an opportunity to see to see photography as not just documenting the movement, but being a part of it and being an integral connection to what excited the image makers to make images,” Willis, a New Yorker, told Our Time Press.

“So, when we thought about some of the artists that made a difference during that time period, they were practitioners. They were not only developing the movement from the literary experience of Larry Neal and Amiri Baraka, but they were also creating their own legacy by making images and responding to their communal experiences.”

The exhibition has 150 examples tracing the Black Arts Movement from its roots to its lingering impacts from 1955 to 1985. It shows the bold visions shaped by generations of photographers including Billy Abernathy, Kwame Brathwaite, Roy DeCarava, Gordon Parks, Doris Derby, Ademola Olugebefola, Emory Douglas, Barkley Hendricks, Barbara McCullough, David Driskell, and Ming Smith. There is art by legends Romare Bearden and Betye Saar, who collected photographs and utilized Black photographer’s images in their artwork.

“The project was intended to look at a lot of work by photographers and artists who weren’t as really well-known as they could be,” Brookman told Our Time Press.

We really wanted to look at the connections between photography and the Civil Rights Movement and the Black Arts Movement. That’s why the exhibit begins in 1955 and ends in 1985 because the connections are broader than I think we initially thought.”

“Phillip and I have co-curated a couple of shows together over time. We’re both photography curators and photographers, always looking at activism in our work,” said Willis. “We were thinking about this five years ago during post COVID. We just we lost a number of people we love and care for during that time period like artist David Driskoll, and many of them were actively in the Black Arts Movement writing and creating work.

So, we thought it was time to consider ways to preserve their memories and also preserve the collections and the collective experiences of what artists were doing.”

Vintage photos spanning community activism from Harlem to Chicago to Los Angeles to Atlanta are on view. The exhibit shows the impact of the Black Arts Movement on the African Diaspora encompassing Black Latino, European and African photographers. There are landmark photographs of Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Fannie Lou Hamer, Bobby Seale and others.

Work by Gordon Parks is spotlighted. “Gordon Parks’ work does have a major impact on the Black Arts Movement,” said Brookman, who has curated major exhibitions on Gordon Parks’ photography. “Going back to 1955 and 1956, he went to Alabama on assignment for Life magazine and photographed the story about segregation in the South.

It’s a time, when Parks becomes more of an activist in his work as he as much as he could for Life magazine. He began making photographs that were about the idea of segregation and desegregation in the aftermath of Brown versus Board of Education.”

There are images in the exhibition by noted New York photographers like Eli Reed, Alex Harsley, Darryl Ellis, Adger Cowans, Dwight Carter, Anthony Barboza, and Coreen Simpson. In addition, Kwame Brathwaite, who is now getting the recognition he deserved. “I just think it’s fantastic. I first met Kwame when I moved to New York in 1969.

He was such a giving, generous photographer who was part of the movement with his Grandassa Models and the ‘Black is Beautiful’ movement,” Willis said. “During the later years of his life, he traveled and talked to people about his photography collection. A number of collectors and curators would see the importance of his work.”

Willis has gained the reputation as the leading scholar and author on African American photography. She is chair of the NYU Department of Photography & Imaging and director of the NYU Center for Black Visual Culture. A prolific author of over 15 books on Black historical photography, she holds a bachelors in art from Philadelphia College of Art, art master’s degrees from Pratt Institute and CUNY and a doctorate in cultural studies from George Mason University.

She’s held key arts positions at the Schomburg, Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Willis has earned numerous honors including a MacArthur Fellowship “genius grant,” a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Harvard University fellowship and an honorary doctorate from Yale University.

In addition to “Photography and the Black Arts Movement, 1955–1985,” the National Gallery of Art also has an exhibit by a major Black artist. “In the Tower: Chakaia Booker: Treading New Ground,” through August 2, 2026, features the Newark-born artist renowned for repurposing discarded rubber tires into sculptures.

This exhibition spotlights three massive rubber sculptures, which span 20 to 21 feet wide, that encompass masses of curled tire rubber, spiky shards, coiled strips, and loops made from inner tubes.

Recently, the National Gallery of Art was in the news stating the Trump administration requested that the famed photograph of an enslaved man, “Scourged Back,” be removed. A spokesperson from the National Gallery of Art told Our Time Press this is not correct. “It is not accurate that the work is set to be removed from the National Gallery of Art. A copy of this photograph is part of our collection of over 160,000 works but has not been displayed since 2022,” said the statement.
A catalogue is available on “Photography and the Black Arts Movement, 1955–1985.” For more information on the National Gallery of Art, visit www.nga.gov