The Black Index

Dennis Delgado, Black Panther (2020), Tagged image photo file. 8.6” x 14.3”. Courtesy of the artist. — Dennis Delgado, *Black Panther* (2020), Tagged image photo file. 8.6” x 14.3”. Courtesy of the artist.

Alicia Henry, Analogous III (2020), Acrylic, thread, yarn, dyed leather. Variable dimensions. Courtesy of the artist. — Alicia Henry, *Analogous III* (2020), Acrylic, thread, yarn, dyed leather. Variable dimensions.
Courtesy of the artist.

Kenyatta A.C. Hinkle, The Evanesced: The Untouchables (2020), 100 ink on paper drawings. 9" x 12" each. Courtesy of the artist. — Kenyatta A.C. Hinkle, *The Evanesced: The Untouchables* (2020), 100 ink on paper drawings. 9" x 12" each. Courtesy of the artist.

Titus Kaphar and Reginald Dwayne Betts, Redaction (In Missouri) (2020), Etching and silkscreen on paper. 22" x 30". Image by Christopher Gardner, Courtesy of the artist and Reginald Dwayne Betts. — Titus Kaphar and Reginald Dwayne Betts, *Redaction (In Missouri)* (2020), Etching and silkscreen on paper.
22" x 30". Image by Christopher Gardner, Courtesy of the artist and Reginald Dwayne Betts.

Lava Thomas, Mugshot Portraits: Women of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, Alberta J. James (2018), Graphite and Conté pencil on paper. 33 1/4" x 47". Courtesy of the artist and Rena Bransten Gallery. — Lava Thomas, *Mugshot Portraits: Women of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, Alberta J. James* (2018), Graphite and Conté pencil on paper. 33 1/4" x 47". Courtesy of the artist and Rena Bransten Gallery.

Whitfield Lovell, The Card Series (2018-2020), Charcoal pencil on paper with attached playing card. 9" x 12". Courtesy of the artist and DC Moore Gallery, New York. — Whitfield Lovell, *The Card Series* (2018-2020), Charcoal pencil on paper with attached playing card.
9" x 12". Courtesy of the artist and DC Moore Gallery, New York.

About the Exhibition

Curated by Bridget R. Cooks

The artists featured in The Black Index—Dennis Delgado, Alicia Henry, Kenyatta A.C. Hinkle, Titus Kaphar, Whitfield Lovell, and Lava Thomas—build upon the tradition of Black self-representation as an antidote to colonialist images. Using drawing, performance, printmaking, sculpture, and digital technology to transform the recorded image, these artists question our reliance on photography as a privileged source for documentary objectivity and understanding. Their works offer an alternative practice—a Black index—that still serves as a finding aid for information about Black subjects, but also challenges viewers’ desire for classification.

The works in The Black Index make viewers aware of their own expectations of Black figuration by interrupting traditional epistemologies of portraiture through unexpected and unconventional depictions. These works image the Black body through a conceptual lens that acknowledges the legacy of Black containment that is always present in viewing strategies. The approaches used by Delgado, Henry, Hinkle, Kaphar, Lovell, and Thomas suggest understandings of Blackness and the racial terms of our neo-liberal condition that counter legal and popular interpretations and, in turn, offer a paradigmatic shift within Black visual culture.

This exhibition is dedicated to David C. Driskell.