The Barbican in London opens 'Project a Black Planet: The Art and Culture of Panafrica' on June 11, 2026, a major summer exhibition surveying over a century of Pan-African art and culture. Featuring more than 300 works by artists including Lubaina Himid, David Hammons, Simone Leigh, El Anatsui, Chris Ofili, and Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, the show spans Africa, Brazil, the Caribbean, North America, and Western Europe. It explores how Pan-Africanism—a political and philosophical movement advocating self-determination and anti-colonial solidarity—has shaped visual culture, with paintings, sculpture, photography, film, and archival materials tracing movements like Garveyism, Négritude, and Quilombismo.
This exhibition matters because it is the first major international project to examine the impact of Pan-Africanism on visual culture and the role artists have played in imagining Pan-African futures. By presenting Panafrica as a conceptual space rather than a fixed geography, it reframes art history through a transnational lens, connecting historical liberation struggles to contemporary identity and protest. The accompanying Centre-wide season of over fifty events across film, music, performance, and talks underscores the ongoing relevance of Pan-African thought, making this a landmark cultural moment for both the art world and broader public discourse.