This monument, titled “Unbound” and crafted by artist Harmonia Rosales in partnership with MASS Design Group, was 10 years in the making. The powerful bronze figure honors the 219 people known to have been enslaved by past church members and ministers.

In 2015, the King’s Chapel historian began to uncover the existence of the enslaved people who had not been included in the story of the church. Their names are listed on the King’s Chapel website. From there, the church leadership and the congregation began the process of reconciling with this history and determining how to honor these individuals both publicly and within the church community.

Dean Denniston has been chair of the memorial committee since its inception and a member of the King’s Chapel congregation for 30 years.

“We were telling some parts of our history, but we weren’t telling all of the parts of our history,” said Denniston. “Massachusetts was the first state to legalize slavery initially; that’s one of the firsts we don’t talk about.”

Read the full article here: The Bay State Banner

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Read the full article here: The Art Newspaper

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Rodríguez Castro, and Xiaoyu Weng. Together, they aim to shape what Beckwith calls a more “porous” platform, attentive to the urgencies of the present while embracing multiple voices and contradictions.

The team’s collective expertise spans diasporic, feminist, and decolonial perspectives, alongside commitments to questions of race, migration, technological change, and expanded representation. Their interconnected practices draw on shared histories and professional ties, grounding their approach in generosity to artists and audiences alike.
Following Documenta 15’s controversies, the appointment signals both continuity and a renewed commitment to critical engagement. All eyes now turn to Kassel to see how this curatorial constellation will realise Beckwith’s plural vision.

Read the full article here: OCULA

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“It just requires a lot of diligence and perseverance,” she said to the Guardian. “A lot of times, people don’t realize how important and impactful art in public places is until they see it.”

Sims was a 19th-century gynecologist known for experimenting on 12 enslaved and poor immigrant women without consent. City officials removed his monument in April 2018 after a unanimous vote by the Public Design Commission.

Salt River Pima and Maricopa Indian Community/Suburb, Scottsdale, Arizona, USA, 2011
Edward Burtynsky: ‘My photographs are like Rorschach tests’
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Bagwell will be the first Black woman to have a memorial on Fifth Avenue. Bagwell began sculpting in 1993 and created the First Lady of Jazz in Yonkers, the first public artwork made by a contemporary African American woman commissioned by a municipality in the United States.

Her 9ft (2.7-meter) monument is of a Black woman with 14ft wings, only the second Black Angel statue to be visible publicly in the US.

The shape of Africa cut away from the woman’s heart symbolizes the enslavement of 12 million people over hundreds of years. On her right side the braille will read “My Soul looks back and wonders how I got over!” and on the left it will read “Primum non nocere!” (First do no harm).

Read the full article here: The Guardian

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Angela Davis trial, Oakland, California, 12 November 1969
‘They understood the media and culture,’ says Stephen Shames of the Black Panthers, who he photographed in the 1960s and 70s. ‘Black leather jackets and berets like the French Resistance – they commanded attention and projected strength and hope with their “hip” clothes and discipline.’ This image shows Angela Davis speaking in Defermery park at a Free Huey rally. This photo is Angela Davis’s portrait in the National Portrait Gallery, Washington DC. Black Panthers and Revolution is at Amar Gallery, London, until 6 July

Bobby Seale, Oakland, California, 19 July 1969
Black Panther chairman Bobby Seale speaks at the first national United Front Against Fascism conference. About 4,000 delegates, most of them white, came from all over the nation. Seale announced that control of police would be the Front’s first project. The Black Panther Party was one of the most influential responses to racism and inequality in American history. The Panthers advocated armed self-defence to counter police brutality, and initiated a programme of patrolling the police with guns and law books

Panthers on parade, Oakland, California28 July 1968
On 28 October 1967, Oakland police officer John Frey was shot to death in an altercation with Huey P Newton during a traffic stop. In the stop, Newton and backup officer Herbert Heanes also suffered gunshot wounds. Newton was convicted of voluntary manslaughter at trial, but the conviction was later overturned

Free Huey, Defermery Park, Oakland, California, 12 November 1969
Black Panthers founder Huey P Newton claimed that he had been falsely accused, leading to the ‘Free Huey’ campaign, which then developed alliances with numerous individuals, students and anti-war activists, ‘advancing an anti-imperialist political ideology that linked the oppression of antiwar protesters to the oppression of blacks and Vietnamese’. This incident gained the party even wider recognition by the radical American left. Newton was released after three years, when his conviction was reversed on appeal

James Baldwin, San Francisco, California, 1969
Bobby Seale was taken off the street as he left his wedding ceremony on 19 August 1969. He was charged with starting the riots at the 1968 Democratic convention. Shames writes: ‘James Baldwin came to visit Bobby when he was in the San Francisco county jail before being sent to Chicago for the Chicago Eight trial, where Bobby was bound and gagged by Judge Hoffman. I was honoured to be able to witness these two giants in conversation. They became lifelong friends, meeting together often’

Read the full article here: The Guardian

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What to expect at the Pan-African architecture biennale in 2026
The event will be held at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC). It is ‘a deeply symbolic site, built in the early years of Kenya’s independence and long associated with pan-African unity’, Degan flags. ‘Just as symbolic is the fact that Kenya now allows citizens of nearly all African nations to visit without prior authorisation,’ he continues. ‘Unlike many international events, where African participants are shut out by visa regimes, this biennale guarantees African access. And that matters.’

Degan is keen to create a biennale that ‘belongs to all of Africa’. We caught up with him to find out more about his vision, the event’s wider mission, and what we can expect to see there.

Discussing the Pan-African architecture biennale 2026 with curator Omar Degan
Wallpaper*: Talk to us about the theme and main concept for the biennale.

Omar Degan: The title of this Biennale is: ‘Shifting the Center: From Fragility to Resilience’. This is not just a curatorial line – it’s a political position. It challenges the outdated global lens that sees Africa as fragile, passive, or dependent. In truth, Africa is not developing. Africa is recovering – from centuries of extraction, colonial violence, and deliberate marginalisation. This biennale is an act of re-centring, a call to reclaim space, and a declaration that Africa’s architectural knowledge, cities, and technologies are not just relevant – they are essential. It is time the world stopped looking at Africa as a place to help and started learning from it.

W*: Why is this event important at this point in time? What is its significance?

OD: Because Africa is the future – and yet the world continues to treat it as a footnote. This contradiction is no longer sustainable. Africa is the cradle of humanity, the source of ancient knowledge systems, and the engine of tomorrow’s global growth. It holds the youngest population on Earth and will account for half of the world’s population increase by 2050. Its cities – Lagos, Kinshasa, Nairobi, Dakar – are expanding faster than almost anywhere else on the planet. Its lands fuel the green transition, rich in cobalt, lithium, rare earths, water, and arable soil. And yet, Africa is still depicted as behind. This is not underdevelopment – it is misrepresentation. A false narrative, deliberately crafted to sustain centuries of exploitation and silence. Architecture is no exception. Global discourse continues to sideline African design unless it conforms to Western fantasies: decorative, nostalgic, exotic.

Read the full article here: Wallpaper

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