In the Black Fantastic

"Visually stunning, intellectually cohesive. Ekow Eshun's exhilarating exhibition shows black art on the move and creating fresh idioms."— Financial Times

“In the Black Fantastic at Hayward Gallery review: Unlikely to be a better show this year. This fascinating collection of artistic work is immediately stimulating yet deeply resonant.”— Evening Standard

“If we are to move towards a truly decolonized art world then we must realize that it should not require an artist to fit neatly or repeatedly into a category – especially those narrowly defined by geography, gender or any other shallow definition. Nor should it shoehorn artists into art historical movements and philosophies that deny their full human experiences. We must resist the trappings of the canon. Exhibitions like this show us how.”— The Guardian

"In the Black Fantastic Is The Must-See Exhibition Of The Summer. On 29 June, the Hayward Gallery hosted the opening of the highly anticipated new exhibition In the Black Fantastic. Curated by Ekow Eshun, the writer, broadcaster and chair of the Fourth Plinth Commissioning Group, it is the UK's first exhibition dedicated to the work of Black artists who use the realm of the fantastical – including mythology, folklore, spiritual traditions, science fiction and Afrofuturism – to explore racial injustices and identity. In Eshun's own words, it's “a way of acknowledging, a way of looking at the racialised everyday beyond the constraints that the Western imaginary has put around Black beings, Black personhood and Black experiences.” He continues: 'In a world where we are constantly, as Black people, subject to the fantasies and myths of others, one of the ways through for us is to embrace the fantastic. Not as an escape from reality, but as a way to explore further the possibilities and the imaginative reaches of our own experience of being. Essentially, In the Black Fantastic is about saying there is no finite criteria or barrier to what being Black looks like.'"— British Vogue

"Eshun's In Black Fantastic is an attempt — informed by conversations he had with the exhibition's artists — to define Black creativity and imagination on its own terms."

New York Times

"In June, London's Hayward Gallery opened 'In the Black Fantastic' to immediate acclaim. Vogue hailed it the 'must-see exhibition of the summer,' and the Guardian raved 'spectacular from first to last.' If you can't make it to the show, which features 11 artists of the African diaspora, before it closes Sept. 18, you might consider picking up curator Ekow Eshun's companion book. The book includes images of art in the exhibition, by the likes of Kara Walker and Nick Cave, as well as other works that explore similar worldviews. Eshun offers a primer on what the “Black fantastic” encompasses: works of art that incorporate myth, fantasy and science fiction to reimagine Black culture and identity."–Washington Post

"In this exciting, wide-ranging collection, Eshun presents speculative art and imagery from the African diaspora with a focus on folklore and Afrofuturism and explores works such as the paintings of Kara Walker and Chris Ofili and Jordan Peele's Get Out."–New York Times Book Review

"With “In the Black Fantastic,” Ekow Eshun creates a monument to contemporary Black artists across geographies and disciplines — including Kerry James Marshall, Tavares Strachan and Jordan Peele — revealing the range of these revolutionary traditions."

New York Times's Wirecutter

“Based on the first British exhibition dedicated to the work of imaginative Black artists (such as Nick Cave and Kara Walker) who incorporate fantasy, myth, sci-fi folklore and Afrofuturism to push boundaries and reimagine identity.”

The Globe & Mail

“This gorgeous, unique book explores Black culture through wildly imaginative art and photography.”

AARP, the Magazine