Howardena Pindell, the 82-year-old artist known for her dot-based abstractions and incisive video works, was honored with a Cultural Leadership Award at the American Federation of Arts’s 2025 Gala. In an interview with Cultured, she discusses her current White Cube show “Off the Grid” in London, which spans her decades-long career from early figurative work to new abstract pieces. The exhibition runs through January 18, and Pindell also reveals upcoming projects: a 50-foot-tall stained-glass mural for the University of Texas at Austin, a Dia Beacon acquisition of her works for long-term display in 2026, and her inclusion as the only living artist in the AFA’s touring exhibition Abstract Expressionists: The Women.
This interview matters because Pindell’s career trajectory—from being the only Black woman in her curatorial role at MoMA to facing racism and discrimination—highlights persistent systemic barriers in the art world. Her refusal to give up, combined with her mastery of both abstraction and narrative, challenges the art world’s tendency to silo these approaches. At 82, she remains a vital voice, using her work to confront difficult subjects like lynching and war atrocities, while also creating luminous, geometric abstractions. Her story underscores the importance of perseverance and the ongoing need for equity in the arts.