To Be Young, Gifted and Black

In keeping with our mission to investigate critical moments in the interconnected histories of global black life, Goodman Gallery is pleased to present To Be Young, Gifted, and Black the next edition of the ongoing series Working Title, an exhibition curated by one of our most thoughtful and provocative artists, Hank Willis Thomas.

Taking inspiration from Nina Simone’s iconic song To Be Young, Gifted, and Black (1969), written in memory of playwright Lorraine Hansberry, the author of Raisin in the Sun (1959) who died in 1964 at the age of 34, To Be Young, Gifted, and Black is about our moment, looking back at theirs. What lies between their Civil Rights and our #BlackLivesMatter? All over the world we cry out ever more fervently that our lives matter, even as evidence mounts supposedly to the contrary. However, we ourselves have never been in doubt of this truth, as Simone’s powerful words attest. She shares other great truths, singing that When you’re young, gifted, and black / Your soul’s intact, and, To be young, gifted, and black / Is where it’s at.

To Simone, these affirmations—these unique gifts—of soul and belonging, gained because of one’s race, age, and abilities, not in spite of, are fact. So too, to the artists in To Be Young, Gifted, and Black. Speaking both to the spirit of the song and of our times, they highlight the timeless matter-of-factness of Simone’s words, as well as a conscious contemporary need to hear, feel, and state her assertion boldly and loudly, unapologetically and with gusto.

Artists:

NINA CHANEL ABNEY | DERRICK ADAMS | SADIE BARNETTE | ZOE BUCKMAN | BETHANY COLLINS | NOLAN OSWALD DENNIS | OMAR VICTOR DIOP | TITUS KAPHAR | KILUANJI KIA HENDA | YASHUA KLOS | GERALD MACHONA | TOYIN OJIH ODUTOLA | EBONY G PATTERSON | ADAM PENDLETON | JODY PAULSEN | TABITA REZAIRE | JACOLBY SATTERWHITE | SHINIQUE SMITH