New Getty Exhibit Explores Legacy of Black Arts Movement 

The Black Arts Movement is getting a fresh look thanks to a new exhibit sponsored by the National Gallery of Art. “Photography and the Black Arts Movement, 1955-1985” explores the important role of photography and visual art in organizing and mass communication. 

At a time when Black culture and depictions of Black life are being removed from public view, this exhibit offers a new look at a crucial period in our history. 

“The works in this exhibition show how a wide range of artists and activists tapped the power of photography to strengthen respect for the Black community and culture,” said Timothy Potts, Maria Hummer-Tuttle, and Robert Tuttle, Director of the J. Paul Getty Museum, in a statement. “Amid the turbulence of the mid-20th century, they found powerful ways of using photography to support and advance social justice.”

While art and innovation have always been a part of the Black experience, the Black Arts Movement came of age during a pivotal era in our history. Growing alongside the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements, the Black Arts Movement represented a collective consciousness exploring Blackness across the diaspora through an art lens. 

According to Getty, “Photography and the Black Arts Movement” is curated by Philip Brookman, consulting curator of photographs at the National Gallery of Art, and Deborah Willis, university professor and chair of the department of photography and imaging at the Tisch School of the Arts and director of the Center for Black Visual Culture at New York University.

The exhibition is divided into sections that highlight key aspects of Black life, culture, and advocacy in the mid-20th century. In the section “Transformations in Art and Culture,” exhibits explore how artists reclaim and control mass media formats, including magazines and video, to create alternative spaces for Black expression outside cultural gatekeepers. 

Another section focuses on the era’s activism, particularly in the 1960s and 1970s, and how photography served as an advocacy tool. The documentation of experiences and harms caught by field photographers helped shift popular perception at major inflection points. It also showcased the burden and pain endured by Black people in the ongoing project of challenging white supremacy and injustice. 

Opening on February 24, 2026, and running through June 12, 2026, the exhibit explores the work of over 100 visual artists who used imagery to depict struggles against injustice and inequality. The exhibit will also be available later this year at the Mississippi Museum of Art in Jackson, MS. 

Getty will also sponsor a companion event on Tuesday, February 23, 2026, featuring artists from the exhibition and a screening of Barbara McCullough’s documentary Horace Tapscott: Musical Griot. The event gives attendees the opportunity to hear directly from the artists about their work. 

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