Upcoming exhibitions

Deana Lawson  
November  4, 2021–February 27, 2022  
The first museum survey dedicated to the work of Deana Lawson will include a selection of photographs from 2004 to the present. For over 15 years, Lawson (b. 1979 in Rochester, NY) has been investigating and challenging conventional representations of Black life through a wide spectrum of photographic languages. Engaging acquaintances as well as strangers, Lawson meticulously poses her subjects in highly staged photographs that picture narratives of family, love, and desire to create what the artist describes as “a mirror of everyday life, but also a projection of what I want to happen.” This exhibition is co-organized by ICA/Boston and MoMA PS1 and will be accompanied by a fully illustrated scholarly catalogue. Organized by Eva Respini, Barbara Lee Chief Curator, ICA/Boston, and Peter Eleey, Curator-at-Large, UCCA Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing and Shanghai, with Anni Pullagura, Curatorial Assistant, ICA/Boston. 

Napoleon Jones-Henderson   
February 16, 2022–July 24, 2022   
For more than 50 years, Napoleon Jones-Henderson (b. 1943 in Chicago) has created works that strive to highlight, celebrate, and empower the communities where he lives. A longstanding founding member of the artist collective African Commune of Bad Relevant Artists (AfriCOBRA), Jones-Henderson translates AfriCOBRA’s aesthetic principles—to create images inspired by the lived experience and cultures of the African diaspora in an accessible graphic style with shining Kool-Aid colors—into woven tapestries, mosaic tile works, shrine-like sculptures, and works on paper. Made in collaboration with the artist, who has been based in Roxbury, Massachusetts since 1974, this is Jones-Henderson’s most comprehensive solo exhibition in Boston. Organized by Jeffrey De Blois, Assistant Curator and Publications Manager.    

A Place for Me: Figurative Painting Now 
March 30, 2022–September 5, 2022  
A Place for Me is a testament to the vitality of figurative painting today. The exhibition features new work by David Antonio Cruz (b. 1974 in Philadelphia), Louis Fratino (b. 1993 in Annapolis, MD), Doron Langberg (b. 1985 in Yokneam Moshava, Israel), Aubrey Levinthal (b. 1986 in Philadelphia), Gisela McDaniel (b. 1995 in Bellevue, NE),  Arcmanoro Niles (b. 1989 in Washington, D.C.), Celeste Rapone (b. 1985 in Wayne, NJ), and Ambera Wellmann (b. 1982 in Lunenburg, Canada). These artists are propelling figurative painting’s recent revival by depicting what they love—their friends, lovers, and family; studio spaces and homes; and scenes from their everyday. A Place for Me celebrates this new generation of artists at the vanguard of contemporary painting. Organized by Ruth Erickson, Mannion Family Curator, with Anni Pullagura, Curatorial Assistant.  

Bárbara Wagner & Benjamin de Burca:  Swinguerra  
March 30, 2022–September 5, 2022  
Collaborating since 2013, Bárbara Wagner (b. 1980 in Brasília, Brazil) and Benjamin de Burca (b. 1975 in Munich) create works in video, photography, and installation that explore contemporary histories of underground dance and musical genres. A recent acquisition on view for the first time in Boston,  Swinguerra (2019) focuses on queer communities of color in Recife, Brazil, with an emphasis on transgender and nonbinary performers. Fast-paced, athletic, sexy, dreamlike, and dynamic, Swinguerra illustrates how dance and music offer rich sources of agency, resistance, and community. Organized by Anni Pullagura, Curatorial Assistant.