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Reckoning

Protest. Defiance. Resilience.

Foreword by Kevin Young
Edited by Michelle D. Commander
Contributions by Aaron Bryant, Amy Sherald, Tuliza Fleming, Bisa Butler, Deborah Willis
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Hardcover
$55.00 US
Rizzoli | Rizzoli Electa
9.5"W x 11.9"H x 1.02"D   | 61 oz | 8 per carton
On sale Sep 03, 2024 | 224 Pages | 9780847836697
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Explores the powerful ways in which visual art has long provided its own rich outlet for protest, commentary, escape, and perspective for African Americans.

This important book showcases the potent role of visual art in African American history and culture. Featuring Black artists working in a range of media, from photography to sculpture to painting—including Amy Sherald, Benny Andrews, Sheila Pree Bright, Bisa Butler, Charles Alston, Elizabeth Catlett, Shaun Leonardo, and David Hammons, to name just a few—the book considers art that exemplifies resilience in times of conflict, as well as the ritual of creation, and the defiant pleasure of healing.

Reckoning, based on the exhibition of the same name at the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC), explores the ongoing struggles Black Americans have faced in their pursuit to enjoy the fundamental rights and freedoms promised in the Constitution to citizens of the United States. Drawn from the museum’s permanent collection, the featured works respond to the dual crises of Covid-19 and systemic racism that shaped 2020, a period that has been called one of reckoning, as the world witnessed the killing of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and other African Americans, leading to some of the largest protests in US history.
"Drawn from the permanent collection of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, the paintings, sculptures and photographs in this book depict resistance and hope in Black America since 2020." — NYT BOOK REVIEW

"The visual art inside this new book is gorgeous, moving, and powerful! Indeed art has always been important as a vehicle for protest, commentary, escape, and perspective for African Americans." — HELLO LOVELY STUDIO

About

Explores the powerful ways in which visual art has long provided its own rich outlet for protest, commentary, escape, and perspective for African Americans.

This important book showcases the potent role of visual art in African American history and culture. Featuring Black artists working in a range of media, from photography to sculpture to painting—including Amy Sherald, Benny Andrews, Sheila Pree Bright, Bisa Butler, Charles Alston, Elizabeth Catlett, Shaun Leonardo, and David Hammons, to name just a few—the book considers art that exemplifies resilience in times of conflict, as well as the ritual of creation, and the defiant pleasure of healing.

Reckoning, based on the exhibition of the same name at the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC), explores the ongoing struggles Black Americans have faced in their pursuit to enjoy the fundamental rights and freedoms promised in the Constitution to citizens of the United States. Drawn from the museum’s permanent collection, the featured works respond to the dual crises of Covid-19 and systemic racism that shaped 2020, a period that has been called one of reckoning, as the world witnessed the killing of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and other African Americans, leading to some of the largest protests in US history.

Praise

"Drawn from the permanent collection of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, the paintings, sculptures and photographs in this book depict resistance and hope in Black America since 2020." — NYT BOOK REVIEW

"The visual art inside this new book is gorgeous, moving, and powerful! Indeed art has always been important as a vehicle for protest, commentary, escape, and perspective for African Americans." — HELLO LOVELY STUDIO

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