The Time Is Always Now: Artists Reframe the Black Figure

'The Time Is Always Now: Artists Reframe the Black Figure' was a major group exhibition held at the National Portrait Gallery in London in 2024. Curated by the former Director of the ICA, Ekow Eshun, it featured paintings and sculptures by 22 artists including two paintings by Kimathi Donkor.

The museum declared they would highlight "the use of figures to illuminate the richness and complexity of Black life. As well as surveying the presence of the Black figure in Western art history, we examine its absence – and the story of representation told through these works, as well as the social, psychological and cultural contexts in which they were produced."

The ticketed exhibition was accompanied by a programme of events as well as by a 192-page catalogue and a smaller 112-page introduction to the artists. The show was widely reviewed and received extensive coverage in major UK publications, including the Evening Standard, The Observer, The Telegraph, Frieze, The Guardian and the BBC.

Subsequently, 'The Time Is Always Now' was scheduled to tour at three further national and international venues: The Box in Plymouth, England; the Philadelphia Museum of Art, USA; and the North Carolina Museum of Art, USA.

List of works by Kimathi Donkor:
Harriet Tubman En Route to Canada (2012)
Nanny of the Maroons Fifth Act of Mercy (2012)

List of participating artists:
Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Hurvin Anderson, Michael Armitage, Jordan Casteel, Noah Davis, Godfried Donkor, Kimathi Donkor, Denzil Forrester, Lubaina Himid, Claudette Johnson, Titus Kaphar, Kerry James Marshall, Wangechi Mutu, Toyin Ojih Odutola, Chris Ofili, Jennifer Packer, Nathaniel Mary Quinn, Thomas J Price, Amy Sherald, Lorna Simpson, Henry Taylor and Barbara Walker.

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