At the Speed Art Museum in Louisville, Kentucky, a new exhibition, opening April 7, will reflect on the life of Breonna Taylor, her killing in 2020, and the year of protests that followed. Promise, Witness, Remembrance is guest-curated by Allison Glenn, who engaged two advisory groups—a local committee of Louisville community members, artists, and activists; and a national group of artists and activists including Amy Sherald and Theaster Gates—to establish the curatorial framework.
Details about the show are forthcoming. Speed Director Stephen Reily said, “A museum like ours should never live in isolation from what’s going on in the city… because we believe that great art and artists can help the city, we were hungry…to find a way to address it.”
Front-Page Femmes
Frieze has awarded Precious Okoyomon, artist, poet, and chef, the 2021 Frieze Artist Award; the artist will create a new commission at this year’s fair in New York.
The New York Times interviews Lorraine O’Grady on the cusp of her first major retrospective, Both/And, opening next month at the Brooklyn Museum.
Artnet interviews art historian Bridget R. Cooks about how structural change in museums can bring more equity to African diaspora art and artists.
For Vogue’s March 2021 issue, Daughters of the Dust (1991) filmmaker Julie Dash cast musical duo Chloe x Halle in a Nigerian folktale.
Monday’s Google Doodle honored Zitkala-Ša, a Native American musician, writer, and activist on her 145th birthday.
Artnet examines the work of Gee’s Bend quilter Lola Pettway, who practices in “a centuries-long continuum of honor and tradition.”
The New Republic explores the history of New York City’s famed Barbizon Hotel, known for serving Joan Didion, Sylvia Plath, Betsey Johnson, and other women creatives; it is the subject of a forthcoming book by Paulina Bren.
ARTnews interviews curators Rita Gonzalez (Los Angeles County Museum of Art) and Mari Carmen Ramirez (Museum of Fine Arts, Houston) about issues facing museum curators during the pandemic, the importance of Latinx art, and more.
Hyperallergic reviews Ragna Bley’s “cerebral, swirling” abstract paintings, currently on view at Downs & Ross in New York City.
Shows We Want to See
At the Friends Indeed Gallery/Four One Nine in San Francisco, Jiab Prachakul: 14 Years presents a significant new body of work exploring the nuances of Asian diasporic representation through a series of intimate portraits. This is the first U.S. solo exhibition for the Thai artist, who approaches the complexity of identity and authenticity through figurative painting. On view through April 30. Artnet recently profiled the artist.
At the Momentary, part of the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas, Sarah Cain: In Nature presents 10 colorful installations, including abstract works on canvas, functional floor paintings, sculpture, and a stained-glass window. The site-responsive exhibition was inspired by the raw state of the former factory building that the Momentary occupies. On view through May 30. Vogue recently profiled the artist, who will soon take over the National Gallery of Art’s East Building Atrium as it undergoes a major renovation.