The Time is Always Now: Artists Reframe the Black Figure

Imagination, Inspiration, and Restoration

Ekow Eshun’s beautiful and timely show gives all the guidance we need for perilous times, starting with this inspirational word:

I loved everything about this exhibition.

For starters, I have always wanted to see Toyin Odutola and Kerry James Marshall together. Odutola makes good on this visual conversation in a single work with A Grand Inheritance. Viewers may have noticed the similarities in how each artist treats Black flesh in paint. In this work, Odutola represents Marshall’s style as inspiration for a lounging Black subject at home.

Toyin Ojih Odutola, A Grand Inheritance, 2016

These days, I walk with Harriet Tubman so it’s only natural that I see her everywhere I go. In Donkor’s work Tubman offers inspiration for someone to keep going.

Kimathi Donkor, Harriet Tubman en route to Canada, 2012

One of my favorite works is the gold queen sculpted by Thomas Price. I won’t lie, I just loved seeing me and Black girls like me looming larger than life in the museum space, braids and all.

Thomas J Price, As Sounds Turn to Noise, 2023

Last but not least, I took seriously the wisdom from Kerry James Marshall and Jennifer Packer: rest is restoration. Even more so in the nude. These works remind us to take care of ourselves—advice that never gets old.

Kerry James Marshall, Untitled, 2009

Jennifer Packer, Untitled (K. Drew), 2019

And a sweet and unexpected note was seeing my book, New Growth: The Art and Texture of Black Hair included among items for sale near the exhibition at the North Carolina Museum of Art.

For me, just seeing the exhibition is the experience. However, in this moment of disappearing people and disappearing information, I also appreciate opportunities to share knowledge within our communities. When available I’ll share information or curated education plans I find around the web. I am on the hunt for these as summer approaches and I’ll need to compensate for what my kids are NOT being taught in school. Here’s a great lesson plan for mature learners to think through the themes in The Time is Always Now. For my small kids (8 yo and 4 yo) I’ll probably adapt it to a painting exercise about flesh tones and a conversation about self-care and community care.