About Things Loved: Blackness and Belonging

Black culture and museum institutions have often had a negative relationship. Historically, this has included the theft of cultural objects, the appropriation of styles, and the devaluation of skilled practices, as well as the marginalization and exclusion of Black artists from exhibitions and collections. Museums have been implicated in antiblack practices that present racial difference as biological fact rather than social construction, and exclude, marginalize, and devalue Black art, Black artists, and Black life. Recognizing this, About Things Loved: Blackness and Belonging centers a diverse array of Black art in the hope of addressing these questions: To whom does blackness belong? Where does blackness belong? How can blackness belong within the museum?

This exhibition highlights the artworks and intergenerational relationships of Romare Bearden, Girma Berta, Chakaia Booker, Peter Bradley, Erica Deeman, Charles Gaines, Dan Halter, Lyle Ashton Harris, Mildred Howard, Margo Humphrey, Julie Mehretu, Kamau Amu Patton, Faith Ringgold, William Rogers, Betye Saar, Raymond Saunders, Lorna Simpson, Hervé Télémaque, Kara Walker, Carrie Mae Weems, Charles White, and Fred Wilson.

Special Events at BAM/PFA
For ages 6 to 12 with accompanying adult(s)

* Friday, May 24, noon
Gallery Talk: About Things Loved: Blackness and Belonging
An in-gallery discussion with the graduate-students organizers of the exhibition

* Thursday, June 6, 4–7 PM
Five Tables of Blackness and Belonging
Extending the conversation on blackness and belonging articulated in About Things Loved, works on view this month explore the multiplicity of black art and its dialogue with dispossession, institutional collecting practices, black radical thought, and everyday life.

* Wednesday, June 19, noon
Screening and Discussion: Welcome to the Neighborhood
We celebrate Juneteenth with a screening of Welcome to the Neighborhood, a short documentary exploring Mildred Howard’s family roots in the Bay Area and the impact of gentrification, followed by a conversation with the artist.
Juneteenth Screening

* Saturday, July 13, 11:30 AM–1 PM or 1–2:30 PM
Gallery + Studio: Finding Form and Space in Black Abstraction
Explore the varied perceptions of space and form on view in About Things Loved, then use paint and other materials to create a layered canvas of your own.