It’s May, which means summer is almost here and we’ve got a list of dynamic Black art exhibits to see before they’re gone!
1. Seydou Keïta: A Tactile Lens
Brooklyn Museum
Now through May 17th
Seydou Keïta: A Tactile Lens is the most expansive North American exhibition of the legendary Malian photographer’s work to date. More than 280 works include iconic prints, never-before-seen portraits, textiles, and Keïta’s personal artifacts, all brought to life with unique insights from his family. The exhibition brings us to Bamako from the late 1940s to early 1960s, an era of profound political and social transformation.
2. Firelei Baez
Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago
Now through May 31st
Featuring significant examples of the artist’s drawings, paintings, and installations made over the last two decades, this exhibition underscores the breadth and expertise of one of contemporary art’s most significant voices. In her monumental paintings and installations, Báez creates fictional worlds that explore the legacies of colonial rule across the Americas and the African diaspora, in the Caribbean, and beyond. Her exuberant, colorful artworks contain complex and layered uses of pattern, decoration, and abstract gestures alongside symbols rooted in Afro-Caribbean cultures. Drawing on folklore, fantasy, science fiction, and mythology, she often works on top of visual references from the past, such as colonial maps and architectural plans, to challenge our understanding of acknowledged power, suggest alternative histories, and unsettle the often-fixed categories of race, gender, and nationality. Her works are at once fantastical, multilayered, and immersive, inviting viewers into her mythological narratives of struggle and resistance.
3. Ideas of Africa: Portraiture and Political Imagination
The Museum of Modern Art
Now through July 25, 2026
Ideas of Africa: Portraiture and Political Imagination examines how photographers and their sitters contributed to the proliferation of Pan-African solidarity during the mid-20th century. Embracing the international spirit of the time, the exhibition gathers striking pictures by photographers working in Central and West African cities. They created images of everyday citizens, dazzling music scenes, and potent manifestations of youth culture that reflected emerging political realities. Photographs by Jean Depara, Seydou Keïta, Malick Sidibé, and Sanlé Sory portray residents across Bamako, Bobo-Dioulasso, and Kinshasa at a time when the winds of decolonial change swept the African continent in tandem with the burgeoning US Civil Rights movement.
4. Crafting Character: The Costumes of Paul Tazewell
Griffin Museum of Science and Industry
Now through September 7, 2026
This deeply inspiring and immersive exhibition invites you into the world of Paul Tazewell’s creative journey — tracing the artistry, imagination and craftsmanship that inspired the creation of iconic costumes from the blockbuster sensation Wicked to Broadway’s Hamilton to Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story and more. Displays of his masterpieces combined with his narration and video, photos and sketches draw back the curtain to show how imagination becomes reality.
5. Giants: Art from the Dean Collection of Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys
Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego
April 18 to August 9
This landmark exhibition includes more than 130 works of art, including the debut of a new large-scale piece by Mickalene Thomas from the personal collection of musical and cultural icons Swizz Beatz (Kasseem Dean) and Alicia Keys. Works from 37 Black American and diasporic artists from Africa, Europe, the United States, and the Caribbean tower in both scale, conceptual depth and technical skill. The Deans have fostered meaningful relationships with the wide array of artists included in the exhibition and the mission of Giants is a testament to their philosophy: “By the artists, for the artists, with the people.”
*Official Exhibit Playlist
Giants exhibition at Brooklyn Museum in 2024
6. Say It Loud: AAMARP, 1977 to Now
Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston
February 12–August 2, 2026
Explore the art of Boston’s African American Master Artists-in-Residence Program (AAMARP) during a guided tour of Say It Loud: AAMARP, 1977 to Now. Led by a Graduate Student Lecturer, deepen your understanding of exhibition themes and select artists through guided close looking and discussion.