The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem is showing Forging Ahead: Recent Acquisitions of Black Women Artists, on view from September 24, 2026 through March 27, 2027 in its main and media galleries.
It is the Center's largest show of contemporary Black women's art, with paintings, textiles, collages, sculpture and photography from 21 artists, including Simone Leigh, Tschabalala Self, Nona Faustine, Barbara Jones-Hogu, Xenobia Bailey, Helina Metaferia and Firelei Baez.
Every work is a recent acquisition, made during the Schomburg's centennial year. Highlights include Simone Leigh's porcelain bust Untitled (2023), Nona Faustine's full Mitochondria series and selections from White Shoes, Rosemary Karuga's Talking Women (1990) and Tschabalala Self's Out of Body (2020).
Curators Tammi Lawson and La Tanya Autry built the show to close a gap they named plainly: Black women are underrepresented in museum collections. In Harlem, in our priority region, this is the show to plan a trip around. Each work is also available for public study with an NYPL library card.