"Two years after months of social justice protests sparked by the death of George Floyd, the Portland Art Museum opened Black Artists of Oregon, celebrating Black artists in the Pacific Northwest. It was supported by the federal Institute for Museums and Library Services and several prestigious foundations. Showcasing works from the 1800s to before the September 2023 opening, the exhibition was widely praised for highlighting the works of 67 Black artists in the region, most of whom had never been shown in the museum before."
""Curated by interdisciplinary artist Intisar Abioto, whose work is legacy in Portland's Black community, Black Artists of Oregon revels in Abioto's years of research, exploring the vast landscape of Black art in a state not known to be the most hospitable to Black people," Willamette Week wrote at the time. ArtsWatch's Laurel Reed Pavic stressed the exhibit's ongoing pertinence: "[I]t is an exhibition of a community that is not only historical but also exists in the present and into the future," she wrote."
The Portland Art Museum opened Black Artists of Oregon two years after months of social justice protests sparked by George Floyd's death. The exhibition showcased works from the 1800s through early 2023 and highlighted 67 Black artists in the Pacific Northwest, most never previously shown at the museum. The show received support from the Institute for Museums and Library Services and several foundations and drew praise for deep curatorial research into Black art within a state with a fraught history toward Black residents. Federal moves to dismantle the IMLS and an executive order targeting museums' teaching of unfiltered history now jeopardize future funding and programmatic freedom.
Read at Oregon ArtsWatch * Arts & Culture News
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