Black Women in Visual Art

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Black Women in Visual Art

BWVA is an organization for women, visual art professionals of the African Diaspora.

BWVA aims to foster networks, share resources and develop programs with the goal of increasing visibility for women in the global majority.

05/14/2026

“I don’t mean to be pedantic, but I do mean to teach. I’m supposed to widen the path. It’s the responsibility of every African American person. I don’t care if you grew up in the middle of a cotton patch. You need to talk about that experience. Somebody needs to write it down, even if only you can do it. I am stunned again and again, just everyday, that I have seen so much. I am history. I’m a part of history. I’ve put my feet down and I have moved. I have footprints that go across generations, that go across decades, and I’ve been shaped and formed by that journey.“ - Mary Lovelace O’Neal🕊️

We honor Mary for her commitment and passion as a Black woman and artist. The spirit of freedom and beauty will always be present in her art and it’s her lasting legacy💐

05/04/2026

While we’re not in Venice yet, we honor the legacy of Koyo Kouoh, first African woman selected to curate the Venice Biennale. With her words, we share how Koyo wants us to engage with the exhibition, the artists, the space and one another.

READ through these excerpts from her essay to learn more about her approach to IN MINOR KEYS. We will link the full essay in our stories!

“Heavy is the head that wears the crown,” a monumental portrait by Derrick Adams () of Koyo Kouoh (1967–2025), curator of the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia ().

https://www.labiennale.org/en/art/2026/introduction-koyo-kouoh-koyo%E2%80%99s-team

04/24/2026

💐 Celebrating the wins of our own, always! We are continuously inspired by one another and the many accomplishments blooming this Spring. Let’s make some noise for these women achieving new heights! 💞

🧑🏾‍🏫 Oluremi C. Onabanjo - Appointed as Curator in the Department of Photographs at The Metropolitan Museum of Art .onabanjo

📘Renée Mussai - New Book, Black Chronicles

👩🏾‍💻Tamara McCaw - New President of the Brooklyn Academy of Music

📰 Kristina Newman-Scott -Appointed as Board Chair of Americans for the Arts

📰 Kaci Merriwether-Hawkins/BGIAS- Black Girls in Art Spaces featured in VOGUE Magazine

📕Leigh Raiford- New book, When Home is a Photograph

👩🏽‍💻Dr. Melaine Ferdinand-King - Named Inaugural Curator of Exhibitions & Programming at the African American Museum of Rhode Island .mp3

👩🏾‍💻Lauren Jackson Harris - Named as the next Executive Director of Dashboard

👩🏽‍💻Christina Mcfield - Named Curator of Changing Exhibitions + Programs at Mississippi Arts + Entertainment Experience

📕Dr. TIffany Barber - New book, Data Consciousness: Reframing Blackness in Contemporary Print

If you have news to share, comment below! Then like and share this post to spread the BWVA love!

Background Art by Lynsey Weatherspoon, Danielle, 17 x 22 inches, black and white photography, 2022. AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE at the link in our bio via our online gallery! 
art blackwomenlead

04/05/2026

Whether your Sundays best is you at safe at home, with family in the kitchen cooking, or congregating at church with a fascinator…there’s deep tradition and memories entrenched in the Black community.

Sending light to all on this Sunday ✨💐

sundays best, oil on canvas, 30x40in, 2025.
By

04/03/2026

black women breathe flowers, too.
just because
we are taught to grow them in the lining of our quiet (our grandmothers secret)
does nor mean
we do not swelter with wild tenderness.
we soft swim.
we petal.
we scent limbs.
love.
we just have been too long a garden for sharp and deadly teeth.
so we
have
grown
ourselfves
into
greenhouses.
― Nayyirah Waheed, Salt

We’re thawing out and blooming into Spring with a new offering to be announced soon. Sending good warm vibes to each of you as we spring into being outside in the name of ART!

ART: I’ll fly away by Kaylah Hagler, available for purchase at the link in our bio!

03/13/2026

💞 TINA DUNKLEY was born in Brooklyn, NY in 1951 to a Jamaican father and Trinidadian mother. She graduated from the New York High School of Music & Art, and earned her B.F.A. from the New York School of Visual Arts. She relocated to Atlanta, GA in the 70’s and earned an M.A. in African American Studies from Atlanta University (now Clark Atlanta University). During her time at Atlanta University she discovered a treasure trove of art housed in the basement of Clark’s library.

In 1942 Hale Woodruff launched the Atlanta University Art Annuals juried competition. Dunkley stumbled upon artworks acquired from the competition. With great insight and interest in these works she soon took on the role of curator in 1980, a position she held until 2015. Dunkley also served as director of the Georgia State University Gallery (now the Ernest Welch School of Art and Design). During her tenure at Clark Atlanta University she produced a project for the Olympics that profiled the Atlanta University Center and the King Center, which helped to obtain millions of dollars to rehouse the permanent collection in a new University Gallery.

Tina Dunkley is also a multidisciplinary artist producing work that celebrates the Caribbean and African American experience.

We salute you! 💐

03/08/2026

Happy 💐 BWVA champions and celebrates the talent of Black women daily through our offerings and in our everyday lives. We are vastly supported by women from all over and value those who seek to uplift and provide opportunities to our community.

Want to support women through BWVA?

💞 set up a fund within the BWVA Foundation to support women that need financial support for professional development opportunities

💞 partner with us to produce an activation, event, panel, exhibition that centers Black women in art

💞 buy original art by Black women artists in our online gallery

💞 and speak our name in rooms that matter!

Cheers to a future matriarchal society!! Until then, let’s continue to support one another 💁🏽‍♀️🫶🏽

02/24/2026

🕊️ Rest in Power - Ashley Stewart Rödder served as a director at Gagosian since 2019, where she worked closely with artists, most notably Nathaniel Mary Quinn, Stanley Whitney, Titus Kaphar, and Deana Lawson. She worked on numerous exhibitions across its locations in New York, Beverly Hills, Paris, London, and Athens. Stewart Rödder previously served as director of sales at Salon 94 for four years and held a variety of positions at David Zwirner over the course of seven years.

She was a member of Gagosian’s Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee, led the gallery’s Contemporary Council, and was a board member of the American arts nonprofit Performa and the Children’s Art Guild.

Known affectionally as a “fierce advocate” for her artists. “She was also deeply respected by her colleagues at the gallery and always conducted herself with great professionalism,” said dealer Larry Gagosian.

Sending sincere condolences to her family, friends and colleagues. We are also sending love to those of Entre Nous, Black women that gathered in support of one another in the NYC art world. She was an inspiration to us all and a leader who set an amazing example of diligence, intelligence and artist advocacy…something we will always need in the art world.

A beautiful legacy to an honor…thank you for your light Ashley💫💞

02/19/2026

💞Augusta Savage (1892-1962), PIONEER- Augusta Savage opened the first Black art gallery in the country during the Great Depression.

Savage was a sculptor, art educator and the first known Black woman to found an art gallery in 1939 in Harlem. In 1953 she co-founded the Harlem Artist Guild which advocated for resources for Black artists. Savage was born in Jacksonville, Florida and moved to New York in 1921. She was accepted into Cooper Union on scholarship and selected before 142 men on the waiting list. As a professional artist, Savage experienced tremendous hardship. In 1923, she applied and was accepted to the Fontainebleau School of Fine Arts in France. Her acceptance was rescinded when the American selection committee discovered Savage was Black. Despite much disappointment and attempts to appeal she was denied support. In 1925 she won a scholarship to the Royal Academy in Rome but was unable to raise the money for travel to attend. She eventually found her way to study in Europe exhibiting her work and expanding her studio practice. She toured France, Belgium and Germany.

Returning to New York in 1931 she continued her career not only as an artist but co-founded the Harlem Artist Guild with artists like Charles Alston. She was an active player in the Harlem Renaissance but never had the commercial success to sustain her practice and primarily worked in plaster or clay. Savage was invited to commission a large-scale sculpture for the 1939 New York World’s Fair. Titled Lift Every Voice and Sing (The Harp), tragically the piece was destroyed at the close of the fair because she was unable to afford to have it stored, moved or cast in bronze. Additionally, she opened two galleries but the effects of the Great Depression slumped art sales. Agusta Savage continued to make what she could until her death in 1965.

She is a giant and an inspiration to us all! We honor you✨

VIDEO: https://gpb.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/savage-and-the-harlem-renaissance-video-gallery/searching-for-augusta-savage/

02/14/2026

Sending love and hoping you feel love in all forms that feel good to and for you today and always ❤️‍🔥

When Hands Touch, from East Durham Love, by Kennedi Carter, 2018.

The Lovers, by Jacob Lawrence, 1946.

Home I’ve found / fragile ground, by Miranda Forrester, 2023.

Untitled (Man and mirror), from the series Kitchen Table by Carrie Mae Weems, 1990.

You Give Me Butterflies - Collaboration with Cristina Martinez and Al-Baseer Holly

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Atlanta, GA

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http://www.blackwomeninvisualart.com/

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