Transcendence: A Century of Black Queer Ecstasy, 1924‑2024
Transcendence: A Century of Black Queer Ecstasy is presented by Art Galleries at Black Studies (AGBS), UT Austin in partnership with the Visual Arts Center.
Curated by Phillip A. Townsend, Curator of Art at AGBS.
Rashaad Newsome, ICON, 2014. Single-channel video with sound, 9 minutes 21 seconds. Courtesy of Rashaad Newsome Studio.
Read it on University of Texas at Austin
The word ecstasy can be understood as a form of transcendence, often through an indiscriminate combination of extremes. Art’s truest depictions of ecstasy exist in the muddled territory between exaltation and despair. Transcendence: A Century of Black Queer Ecstasy, through a variety of media, highlights visual representations of Black queer ecstasy from the last 100 years that surpass its absence from the historical record. Centering Blackness and queerness allows this exhibition to consider the potential of queer perspectives around the paradoxes of pleasure and pain, excess and lack, and autonomy and dependence. As such, the exhibition is organized around seven themes: Portraiture, Beyond Figuration, Dance and Movement, Spirituality, Sex and Sensuality, Black Queer Futures, and Altered States. Together these themes represent the foundations of queer, and especially Black queer, experiences and offer viewers a space to engage with artwork and ephemera that highlight an ecstatically abundant past and advocate for a more inclusive and equitable future.
Wura–Natasha Ogunji, Will I still carry water when I am a dead woman?, 2013. Single-channel video, edition 3/5, 11 minutes 57 seconds. Collection of Art Galleries at Black Studies at The University of Texas at Austin, Purchase, 2022.012.
Many works in the exhibition are by artists who identify as queer; some are by artists who lived in times when such identification was not available or possible; and some are by artists who are not queer but whose works resonate with queer histories. By uniting these and other artists from across generations, Transcendence: A Century of Black Queer Ecstasy positions ecstasy and transcendence as central themes within the ongoing evolution of Black and queer artistic expression. Ultimately, this exhibition honors the resilience and beauty found within the Black queer community, testifying to the transformative nature of art.
Artists & Publications
Igshaan Adams
Aaliyah Arrington
Alvin Baltrop
Richmond Barthé
Belasco
JEB (Joan E. Biren)
Michael Andrew Booker
Vivian Browne
Beverly Buchanan
Damien Davis
Vaginal Davis
Kendrick Daye
Beauford Delaney
Rotimi Fani–Kayode
FIRE!!
Lola Flash
vanessa german
Naima Green
Jeremy Grier
Lyle Ashton Harris
Nadia Huggins
Juliana Huxtable
Richard Jonathan–Nelson
Nella Larsen
Richard Lewis
Alain Locke
Julie Mehretu
Troy Montes Michie
Zanele Muholi
Devin N. Morris
Rashaad Newsome
Bruce Nugent
Wura–Natasha Ogunji
Lovie Olivia
Christopher Paul
Dana Robinson
Paul Mpagi Sepuya
Shikeith
Devan Shimoyama
Prentiss Taylor
Texas Isaiah
THING
Tourmaline
Darryl DeAngelo Terrell
Mickalene Thomas
Bre’Ann White
Didier William
Carla Williams
D’Angelo Lovell Williams
Ajamu X
Artists on view at the VAC
Rashaad Newsome
Wura–Natasha Ogunji
This exhibition is made possible through support from the Terra Foundation for American Art and a grant from The Mellon Foundation’s Affirming Multivocal Humanities initiative, with additional support from the following units at The University of Texas at Austin: College of Liberal Arts, Visual Arts Center, Latino Studies, Barron Ulmer Kidd Centennial Lectureship (Humanities Institute), Department of Sociology, Long Chair Funds (Department of Art and Art History), Department of Anthropology, Department of History, and American Studies.