Black portraiture has seen a surge of interest in recent years, with institutions rushing to fill their collections with Black faces to signal progress. However, this visibility often fades once the optics shift, leaving Black artists relegated back to the margins. This cycle of exposure and abandonment, masquerading as progress, is a familiar pattern in the art world.
In a recent article in New York Magazine, Rachel Corbett explores the decline in demand for Black portraiture following a brief boom. Auction houses saw record-breaking sales of Black artists, and exhibitions highlighting Black portraiture became prominent. But as quickly as the surge came, it faded away, with Black artists once again pushed to the sidelines. It seems that this surge in visibility was more about exploiting a moment of political urgency rather than rectifying historical exclusion.
The term “Black Fatigue,” coined by Mary-Frances Winters, describes the chronic exhaustion Black communities face from systemic racism. However, conservative commentators have co-opted this term to express their weariness of Blackness in public discourse. This framing serves as a justification for retreating from dialogue and action, shifting the narrative away from Black visibility.
The surge of interest in Black portraiture following the events of 2020 was heralded as a cultural reckoning. Artists like Serge Attukwei Clottey, Kwesi Botchway, and Isshaq Ismail saw their works sell for record prices. However, this surge was short-lived, with demand cooling as the socio-political climate shifted. The artworks that were once symbols of acknowledgment became speculative assets, abandoned when their political and financial value decreased.
Public art spaces are also affected by this cycle. Thomas J Price’s “Grounded in the Stars” sculpture in Times Square stands as a rare monument of everyday Blackness, challenging the traditional narrative of white male figures dominating public spaces. However, the backlash against Price’s work reveals a discomfort with Black presence in these spaces, framing it as “wokeness” and justifying its removal or marginalization.
The concept of “Black fatigue” has been subtly inverted in public discourse, shifting the narrative from the real exhaustion experienced by Black communities to a fabricated weariness of racial discourse itself. This distortion serves as a release valve for institutional and societal discomfort, justifying retreat as a form of equilibrium rather than erasure.
To disrupt this cycle of boom and bust, we must challenge the notion of fatigue as a strategy for erasure. Black art should not be visible only when politically convenient but should be valued for its inherent worth and permanence. If Black visibility is treated as a commodity, valuable only when it serves a moment of crisis or optics, then it is time to expose and resist this extractive and manipulative relationship.
