‘This book is urgent, essential, accessible and it needs to be on every art history reading list' BERNARDINE EVARISTO
‘Thorough, accessible, essential’ KATY HESSEL
‘Bold, eloquent, personal and clear-eyed, Akinkugbe is a major new voice in writing about art' DAN HICKS
'A gift of knowledge and an ode to those whose creative expressions give us much to be inspired by today' SOFIA AKEL

Since the inception of mainstream art history, Blackness has been distinctly ignored.

In Reframing Blackness, art historian and founder of @ABlackHistoryOfArt, Alayo Akinkugbe challenges this void.

Exploring the presentation of Black figures in Western art, as well as Blackness in museums, in feminist art movements and in the curriculum, Alayo unveils an overlooked but integral part of our collective art history.

Refreshing and accessible, this promises to start a much-needed conversation in culture and education.

"By engaging in dialogue with the curators of recent pivotal exhibitions, Akinkugbe demonstrates a shared commitment to uncovering what has been overlooked – and a commitment to deepening the discourse around blackness ... The book raises key questions that black cultural producers have grappled with in the UK since the 1960s ... Akinkugbe guides us closer to a vision that does not require black people to reinsert ourselves, but insists on our resolute presence – both then and now." - The Conversation

"If reading Gombrich left you with questions, well, these are many of the answers. A fearless, timely evisceration of so much of the Art History that we have taken for granted, and a rigorous and deeply compelling alternative way of seeing is proffered in its place. Mandatory reading." - Dr Gus Casely-Hayford, director of V&A East

""[Reframing Blackness] fills in gaping holes in institutional education, and contemporary art galleries, I wish I had a resource like this when I was growing up, but it's equally as impactful in my adulthood."" - Ronan Mckenzie, photographer, designer and curator