Page from the “Blue” Qur’an, ninth-tenth century. Ink, gold and silver (now oxidized) on blue-dyed parchment, 11 3/16 x 15 inches/ Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Beatrice Riese, 1995.51a-b
1 Caravans of Gold, Fragments in Time (Block Museum of Art) An ambitious exhibition of material culture from Medieval Africa revives a forgotten history of the continent’s prosperity and cultural wealth that had been elided by Eurocentricism.
2 Dawoud Bey (Art Institute of Chicago) The eminent Chicago-based photographer turns from portraiture to the architecture and landscapes of the Underground Railroad, a major first showing of “Night Coming Tenderly, Black,” a new body of work.
3 Stateless: Views of Global Migration (Museum of Contemporary Photography) Eight artists humanize the global migration crisis at a museum with a long track-record of examining politics and current events through photography.
Elliot Josephine Leila Reichert is a curator, critic and editor. She is the inaugural Curator of Contemporary Art at the Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University. She was formerly Curatorial Fellow at the Chicago Artists Coalition, Art Editor of Newcity and Assistant Curator at the Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University.
