This momentous LACMA exhibition called for a group portrait — to the tune of Roberta Flack

Artists gathered at LACMA for a portrait commemorating their inclusion in “Imagining Black Diasporas: 21st-Century Art and Poetics,” on view through July 27. During the photo shoot, there was a special request to listen to Roberta Flack (the singer had died two days earlier). The entire group sang along as “Killing Me Softly With His Song” echoed through the galleries.

The exhibition introduces 42 new acquisitions for LACMA as part of the museum’s ongoing work to expand its program and collection of art by African-descendant artists. It’s been an honor to bring this exhibition to life with the work of 60 multigenerational artists based around the world. At the opening, artists caught up and met for the first time, potentially creating new diasporic networks of exchange and connectivity.

—Dhyandra Lawson, Andy Song associate curator of Contemporary Art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art

Arielle Bobb-Willis

Arielle Bobb-Willis, “New Jersey,” 2019.

(Courtesy of the artist and Museum Associates / LACMA; Purchased with funds provided by the Ralph M. Parsons Fund)

Helina Metaferia

Helina Metaferia, “Headdress XVIII,” 2021.

(Courtesy of the artist and Museum Associates / LACMA; Promised gift of Mark Dinner and Nana Quagraine)

Edgar Arceneaux

Edgar Arceneaux, “Blocking Out The Sun,” 2004.

(Courtesy of the artist and Museum Associates / LACMA; gift of Stacy and John Rubeli)

John Outterbridge

John Outterbridge, “Asafetida Yoke,” 2008.

(Museum Associates / LACMA; Courtesy of the Estate of John Outterbridge; Purchased with funds provided by the Pasadena Art Alliance)

John Outterbridge

Michael Queenland, Untitled 1-9, 2005.

(Courtesy of the artist and Museum Associates / LACMA; Purchased with funds provided by the Ralph M. Parsons Fund)

Patrisse Cullors

Patrisse Cullors, “Oturupon Meji,” 2023.

(Yubo Dong of photostudio; Courtesy of the artist, Charlie James Gallery Los Angeles, and Museum Associates / LACMA; gift of Charlie James Gallery)

Kambui Olujimi

Kambui Olujimi, “In Your Absence The Skies Are All The Same,” 2014, digital image

(Courtesy of the artist, Museum Associates / LACMA; Purchased with funds from the Ralph M. Parsons Fund)

Sandra Brewster

Sandra Brewster, “Blur,” 2020.

(Courtesy of the artist and Olga Korper Gallery; Museum Associates / LACMA; purchased with funds provided by Contemporary @ LACMA, 2022)

Tariku Shiferaw

Tariku Shiferaw, “Water No Get Enemy (Fela Kuti),” 2019.

(Courtesy of the artist, Addis Fine Art & Galerie Lelong & Co., Museum Associates / LACMA; Mark Dinner and Nana Quagrine, New York, Brooklyn)

Martine Syms

Martine Syms, “Vertical Horizontal Extended, Vertical Elevated Oblique, A Thread Or Line That Holds Things Together,” 2015.

(Courtesy of the artist and Museum Associates / LACMA; purchased with funds provided by AHAN: Studio Forum, 2016 Art Here and Now purchase)

Melanie Cervantes

Dignidad Rebelde, Jesus V. Barraza, Melanie Cervantes, ”Justice for Oscar Grant! Justice for Gaza!,” 2009.

(Lincoln Cushing; Courtesy of the artists and Museum Associates / LACMA; gift of Dignidad Rebelde)

Awol Erizku

Awol Erizku, “Ramadan Drawing April 1 - May 1,” 2022.

(Brica Wilcox; Courtesy of the artist and Museum Associates / LACMA; purchased with funds provided by The Buddy Taub Foundation, Dennis A. Roach and Jill Roach Directors)

Samuel de Saboia

Samuel de Saboia, “Self Generated Magic Organic Freedom,” 2024.

(Gene Ogami; Courtesy of the artist and Museum Associates / LACMA)

Widline Cadet

Widline Cadet, “Seremoni Disparisyon #1 (Ritual [Dis]Appearance #1),” 2019.

(Widline Cadet; Courtesy of the artist and Museum Associates / LACMA; gift of Avo Samuelian and Hector Manuel Gonzalez)

Installation photograph, “Imagining Black Diasporas: 21st-Century Art and Poetics,” Los Angeles County Museum of Art, December 15, 2024–July 27, 2025.

(Museum Associates / LACMA)