This companion installation to Let the World See features work by contemporary African American artists from the collections of Bill and Christy Gautreaux and the Spencer Museum. Selected works relate to themes from the traveling exhibition including Black life and Black love, media representation, and activism.

Jacob Lawrence and the Legend of John Brown presents a recently acquired portfolio of prints by the acclaimed Black modernist Jacob Lawrence (1917–2000). Lawrence originally produced The Legend of John Brown as paintings in 1941, but, due to problems related to the stability of the gouache used in the series, in 1974 he collaborated with printers to translate […]

Reading the World explores artistic investigations into forces of nature. Together the works displayed prompt viewers to consider their own encounters with the natural world, their ecological and political contexts, and how they become reflected in a wide range of mediums.

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the History of Black Writing, a research center at the University of Kansas that specializes in the recovery and preservation of texts by Black writers. This exhibition extends the goals of the project’s archive of Black storytellers to include art and visual culture. Featured works by contemporary artists […]

The Spencer Museum collaborates with contemporary photographer Accra Shepp to share two photographic projects, Occupying Wall Street and The Covid Journals. Through these portrait series, Shepp reveals a sense of community, hope, and resilience during an era of tremendous social, political, and environmental change. Shepp began photographing the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations in New York’s Zuccotti Park on […]