Washingtonian

2022-04-12

The highly anticipated Afro-Atlantic Histories exhibit at the National Gallery of Art opened Sunday and will be on view through July 17. Traversing five centuries, multiple continents, and over 130 artworks, the remarkable exhibit reexamines the historical and cultural experiences of Black and African people as told through the histories of the African Diaspora and the transatlantic slave trade. The exhibit travels through time and across the thematic narratives of maps, enslavements, everyday lives, music, portraits, and resistance, to reveal the lasting legacies of Afro-Atlantic histories and experiences. Here is a look at some of its works... The last room of the exhibition displays articles of resistance and activism from throughout the Black Atlantic. Daniel Lind-Ramos’s Figura de Poder (2016–2020) is made of a collection of found commonplace materials from Lind-Ramos’s Afro-Puerto Rican community in Loíza. The everyday objects evoke carnival traditions, music, sports, and other pieces of community life as a site of cultural resistance through this distinctly dynamic sculpture.