The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art Announces First Exhibitions Curated by George Lucas

The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, set to open on September 22, 2026, in Los Angeles's Exposition Park, has announced its inaugural exhibition schedule curated by George Lucas. The museum will showcase a wide range of narrative art, from Americana works by Thomas Hart Benton and Norman Rockwell to documentary photography by Gordon Parks, Dorothea Lange, and Robert Capa, as well as public murals by Diego Rivera and Judith F. Baca. The collection also includes production designs, props, and costumes from the Lucas Archives, alongside illustrations by Frank Frazetta, Maxfield Parrish, and N.C. Wyeth, children's literature art by Beatrix Potter and Jacob Lawrence, and comics and manga by Jack Kirby, Alison Bechdel, and Mœbius.

ai weiwei confronts memory, catastrophe, and resilience at MAXXI l'aquila exhibition

Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei presents a new exhibition at MAXXI L'Aquila, titled 'Ai Weiwei: Confronting Memory, Catastrophe, and Resilience.' The show explores themes of collective trauma, historical catastrophe, and human resilience through a range of media including sculpture, installation, and documentary works. It draws on Ai's ongoing engagement with political dissent, migration, and the fragility of cultural memory.

When the story has already been told -- ‘Gordon Parks: The South in Color’ at Jackson Fine Art

Gordon Parks: The South in Color, curated by Dawoud Bey, is on view at Jackson Fine Art in Atlanta through June 13. The exhibition celebrates the 20th anniversary of The Gordon Parks Foundation and the 70th anniversary of Parks’ 1956 Life magazine feature on segregation in the South. The show presents a broader selection of Parks’ photographs than the original magazine spread, including iconic works like In-Home Barbershop, Shady Grove, Alabama, 1956. The article, written by a photographer and writer for ArtsATL, reflects on the experience of seeing Parks’ work in person and contrasts the gallery presentation with the editorial framing of the Life feature.

Artist Bria Edwards presents solo exhibition, What We Do, We've Always Done

Artist Bria Edwards has debuted a solo exhibition titled "What We Do, We've Always Done" at the Julio Fine Arts Gallery at Loyola University Maryland. The multidisciplinary showcase features oil paintings, photography, and video work resulting from two years of fieldwork and interviews with Black equestrians across Maryland. Curated by Lauren Davidson of Museum Nectar Art Consultancy, the exhibition explores the historical and contemporary presence of Black horse riders, moving from the era of enslavement to modern-day leisure and competitive spaces.

New documentary provides an inside look at the Harlem Renaissance

A new documentary, *Once Upon a Time in Harlem*, is screening at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah, offering an intimate look at the Harlem Renaissance. The film is assembled from 28 hours of 16mm footage shot in 1972 by the late filmmaker William Greaves at Duke Ellington's home in Harlem, capturing a gathering of key figures from the movement. Greaves's son David, who was one of the original cameramen, completed the film after his father's death. The footage includes interviews and reflections from artists, writers, musicians, and activists such as Romare Bearden, Aaron Douglas, James Van Der Zee, Eubie Blake, and Arna Bontemps.

Gaudi’s original vision for Casa Batlló has been restored

Antoni Gaudí’s Casa Batlló in Barcelona has undergone a €3.5 million restoration that returns the building’s rear façade and private courtyard to their original 1906 design. Led by architect Xavier Villanueva, the year-long project employed local artisans to rebuild Gaudí’s vaulted balcony support system, reinstate lost features such as planters and a pergola, and restore original colors using 85,000 Nolla mosaic pieces, ironwork, stucco, and trencadís. The work coincides with the 20th anniversary of the building’s UNESCO World Heritage designation.

Ethics and Parafiction: A Conversation

Ethics and Parafiction: A Conversation

e-flux Screening Room hosted an event featuring artist and filmmaker Salomé Lamas on December 6, 2025. The program included screenings of her films 'Eldorado XXI' (2016) and 'Gold and Ashes' (2025), a presentation of her related publication, and a public conversation with curator Lukas Brasiskis. The published transcript focuses on Lamas's filmmaking process, particularly the logistical and ethical challenges of shooting in extreme locations like La Rinconada, Peru.

Exhibits feature local artists, including youth

The Public Works Art Center in downtown Summerville is currently hosting four concurrent exhibitions featuring local artists, including Tom Stanley, Paul Matheny, Karyn Healey, and the late Gene Merritt, as well as a showcase for student artists. The shows, which run through May 16, present a range of works from paintings reflecting Southern culture to documentary photography of the town and youth art.

An Italian Photographer Traveled to Palestine to Document the Growth of Two Bedouin Twins

Una fotografa italiana ha viaggiato in Palestina per documentare la crescita di due gemelle beduine

Italian photographer Monica Biancardi presents a nearly two-decade-long photographic project documenting the growth of two Bedouin twins, Sara and Sarah, in Palestine. The exhibition, titled 'Il capitale che cresce' (The Capital That Grows), opens at the MAN museum in Nuoro on April 24, 2026, and features black-and-white pigment prints from 2009 to 2023, alongside plexiglass maps and a travel video.

Closure of Side gallery quayside space in Newcastle sparks social media backlash

Side gallery, a historic venue in Newcastle that has showcased documentary photography and film since 1977, will not reopen at its Quayside location after closing in 2023 due to lost revenue funding from the Arts Council of England (ACE). Managing director Laura Laffler of Amber Film & Photography, which runs the gallery, announced the decision after exhausting all avenues for continued funding, including a failed £1.3 million National Lottery Heritage Fund bid and the collapse of ACE's Grantium platform. The closure has sparked backlash on social media, with some donors to the 2023 #SaveSide crowdfund—which raised £67,278—feeling misled about the funds' purpose.

Magnum Gallery Celebrates the Enduring Vision of Martin Parr

Magnum Gallery in Paris is opening a solo exhibition titled "Martin Parr: In Plain View" from March 28 to June 6, 2026, dedicated to the late English photographer Martin Parr. The show features works from his three-decade tenure with the Magnum Photos cooperative, tracing his evolution from black-and-white documentary work to his influential color photography, and includes archival materials and interactive experiences.

In the new documentary Architecton, buildings collapse and stones dance

Victor Kossakovsky's new documentary *Architecton*, opening in US theaters on August 1, premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival. The film is a silent, drone-shot meditation on the destruction of the built environment, showing war-ravaged buildings in Ukraine, earthquake ruins in Turkey and Lebanon, and the violent process of stone being blasted for concrete. It contrasts modern structures that collapse within decades with ancient buildings that still stand, and features architect Michele di Lucchi as a quiet voice for thoughtful, enduring design. The film's score is by Russian expatriate composer Evgueni Galperine.

‘A homage to heritage’: first-of-its kind collaboration between museum and football team celebrated with documentary

A new documentary titled 'Made in Walthamstow,' directed by Xaymaca Awoyungbo, chronicles the creation of the first-ever football kit designed in collaboration with a museum. The shirts were produced by north east London team Walthamstow FC together with the William Morris Gallery, arts organization Wood Street Walls, and brand Admiral Sportswear. Worn by the team since 2023, the kits feature floral designs by 19th-century designer William Morris, who lived in the building that now houses the gallery.

LensCulture portrait awards 2026 – in pictures

The LensCulture Portrait Awards 2026 have announced their winning and shortlisted photographers, showcasing a diverse range of styles from documentary realism to conceptual invention. Highlights include an Australian photographer's winning portrait of a 'barefoot volcanologist' and poignant series documenting the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and the reclamation of identity in post-colonial contexts.

Method Man turns his eyeball inside out: Eddie Otchere’s best photograph

Photographer Eddie Otchere recounts capturing his iconic 1994 black-and-white portrait of Wu-Tang Clan's Method Man in London. Otchere, then a 19-year-old fan, boldly asked to join the group's coach after spotting them, leading to a spontaneous shoot where Method Man performed his "new trick" of contorting his eye.

‘Jimmy & the Demons’ Review

A new documentary film by Cindy Meehl, titled 'Jimmy & the Demons,' profiles the life and work of artist James Grashow. The film explores his whimsical yet profound sculptural practice and delves into the dynamics of his long-lasting marriage, offering an intimate portrait of the artist's personal and creative world.

On the Familial Turn in Photography

A growing number of contemporary photographers are shifting their focus from traditional documentary subjects to their own personal and familial archives. This movement, termed the 'familial turn,' sees artists using intimate, domestic materials as primary sources for artistic exploration and narrative construction.

Creating Variety in Contemporary Rome: The Story of the Conventicola degli Ultramoderni on Sky Arte

Fare varietà nella Roma contemporanea: la storia della Conventicola degli Ultramoderni su Sky Arte

On Sunday, May 3, Sky Arte will premiere the documentary "Ultramoderni," which chronicles the rise of the Conventicola degli Ultramoderni, a unique artistic collective in Rome. Founded by Sior Mirkaccio and Madame de Freitas, who met in 2011, the group operates from a small hidden venue in the San Lorenzo district, blending music, cabaret, burlesque, and contemporary variety shows with a retro-futuristic aesthetic. The documentary, filmed in their Roman space, features interviews with the duo and excerpts from their performances, tracing how they built a diverse community of enthusiasts around their reinvention of past traditions.

‘Layers of Us’ show examines culture through art

Mothership Studios is hosting the opening reception and a brunch for the "Layers of Us" exhibition, featuring nine artists from Texas State University. The show explores the concept of culture through individual representation and community, using diverse media like video, painting, photography, and sculpture.

‘Out of Place’ : The Afterlives of Landscape.

The major retrospective ‘Out of Place’ at ART AFRICA showcases over 200 images by South African photographer Jo Ractliff, spanning four decades of her career. The exhibition traces Ractliff’s evolution from her early 1980s street photography to her mature, atmospheric landscapes that examine the scars of colonialism, apartheid, and regional conflicts in Southern Africa. By focusing on the 'afterlife' of violence rather than the events themselves, the collection highlights her unique ability to capture how history sediments within the physical terrain.

National Artist Call for Juried Art Exhibition at Minneapolis Institute of Art, Allegories of a Better World

Artists nationwide are invited to submit original works to a juried exhibition titled "Allegories of a Better World," which will be held at the Minneapolis Institute of Art on June 28, 2026. The submission deadline is May 15, 2026. The exhibition is organized in conjunction with the premiere of the documentary film "The Making of America," directed by Monique Linder and produced by OMG Studios in partnership with the Minnesota Humanities Center. Submissions should explore themes such as virtue, moral courage, truth, justice, liberation, reconstruction, memory, history, and cultural healing. Selected works may also be featured in the film.

40 years of Hammersmith art on show – for FREE – at Riverside Studios

The Riverside Artists Group is celebrating its 40th anniversary with a major retrospective titled "PULL FOCUS" at the Riverside Studios in Hammersmith. The exhibition features 48 artworks across various media—including oil paintings, sculptures, and digital prints—by 33 artists, alongside a 30-minute documentary film and an extensive archive of the group's history. Founded in 1986 following an open submission call that drew over 1,000 entrants, the collective has grown from a local community initiative into an international presence.

Colombia of the 1970s arrives in Milan with an exhibition that feels like a film

La Colombia degli Anni ’70 arriva a Milano con una mostra che pare un film

Ever Astudillo (Cali, 1948–2015) is the subject of a new exhibition at Velo Project in Milan, titled "Latin Fire." The show brings together photographs and drawings from the 1970s and 1980s, capturing the Colombian city of Cali as a silent theater of anonymous, often isolated figures. The installation also features kinetic sculptures by filmmaker Virgilio Villoresi (Fiesole, 1979), creating a dialogue between Astudillo's still images and Villoresi's fragile, hypnotic movement. The exhibition runs until May 16, 2026.

La MansA Launches Its Magazine

La MansA lance son magazine

La MansA – Maison des mondes africains has launched MansA Magazine, a bilingual (French/English) semiannual cultural publication. The magazine, available at newsstands, bookstores, and online, features essays, interviews, and portfolios focused on African and Afro-diasporic art scenes, adopting a critical and documentary approach. The cover of the inaugural issue features Guillaume Diop, the first Black male principal dancer at the Paris Opera.

New exhibition on local cold water swimmers at Bournemouth Hospital gallery

Photographer David Bird has unveiled a new exhibition titled "Cold Water Swimmers" at the Royal Bournemouth Hospital’s Art Space gallery. The series features before-and-after portraits of local swimming groups, such as Beyond the Blue in Poole, capturing the physical and emotional transformation of participants who brave the sea at sunrise without wetsuits. The project was developed during Bird's recent MA in Photography at Arts University Bournemouth, marking a return to academia after a 30-year career in commercial and press photography.

South Lafourche artist's work featured in Kotex documentary

Akira Crosby, an artist from Cut Off, Louisiana, had her painting removed from a Houma art gallery in 2024 because it depicted menstrual blood as part of her feminist exhibit “Pieces of Me.” Months later, Kotex featured the same artwork in a documentary, bringing unexpected national attention to her work.

Art exhibition shines light on Romani persecution during Holocaust

An exhibition titled "Ceija Stojka: Making Visible" at The Drawing Center in New York City highlights the persecution of Roma and Sinti people during the Holocaust, a lesser-known chapter of Nazi atrocities. The show features paintings and drawings by Ceija Stojka, a Romani artist, writer, and activist who survived the genocide and died in 2013 at age 79. Her works, described as acts of memory and imagination rather than documentary, depict her experiences and stories passed down to her, with the exhibition also including documentary films by Karin Berger and Stojka's writings, such as her 1988 memoir "We Live in Secrecy."

Museum of the African Diaspora Marks 10 Years of Its Emerging Artists Program

The Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD) in San Francisco is celebrating the 10th anniversary of its Emerging Artists Program (EAP) by announcing its 2026-2027 cohort. Selected from hundreds of applicants, Bay Area artists Jasmine Ross, Demetri Broxton, Dorian Reid, and Tahirah Rasheed will each receive a fully supported solo exhibition at the museum. The program, which has supported 30 artists since 2015, provides crucial institutional backing, including curatorial guidance and production resources, to creatives at pivotal career moments.

Parted Light opening at Wynter Gallery; artist talk set

The Wynter Gallery in Lambertville, New Jersey, is debuting "Parted Light," a solo exhibition by Detroit-based photographer Tejasvir. The collection features photographs taken in Pakistan that explore the memory, legacy, and cultural identity of a once-unified Punjab. The exhibition opens on April 10, followed by an intimate artist talk on April 12 where Tejasvir will discuss his personal journey and the existential themes behind the work.

Jo Ann Block Exhibition Opens April 4 | Studio Channel Islands

Southern California-based artist Jo Ann Block will debut a new solo exhibition titled "The Meaning of Life: A Self Portrait" at the Studio Channel Islands Art Center on April 4, 2026. The multidisciplinary showcase features sculpture, video, and painting organized into immersive installations that trace the artist's personal history and lived experiences.