Walk into the Barbican's Art Gallery right now and you will find more than 250 paintings, installations, posters, journals and films spread across the space. Project a Black Planet: The Art and Culture of Panafrica opened on 11 June and runs until 6 September. It is the latest stop on a touring exhibition that has already appeared in Chicago and Barcelona.
The show sets out to trace how Pan-Africanism, that loose collection of anti-colonial ideas and calls for solidarity among people of African descent, shaped visual culture. The works come from Africa, Brazil, the Caribbean, North America and Western Europe. Names on the list include Chris Ofili, Marlene Dumas, Claudette Johnson, El Anatsui, Lubaina Himid, William Kentridge, Simone Leigh and Lynette Yiadom-Boakye.
What matters here is not another lecture on identity but the tangible quality of the objects themselves. Craft, composition and historical context still count for something. Western Christian civilisation has long absorbed influences from every corner of the globe without dissolving its own standards of beauty or coherence. This exhibition, at its best, lets you see that exchange at work rather than subordinating art to a political script.
The curators call it the first major survey to look at both the effect of Pan-Africanism on art and the part artists played in forming those visions. That dual focus is useful. It reminds us that creative minds do not simply illustrate ideologies; they test, refine and sometimes transcend them. Too many recent shows have treated the canvas as a placard. This one at least leaves room to judge the work on its own terms.
A parallel season runs from 5 June to 6 September with more than 50 events, film screenings, music, workshops and talks. A dedicated film programme kicks in on 8 July. Standard tickets sit at £20.50, with concessions, free entry for members on certain schemes and pay-what-you-can slots. The practical details matter because they determine who actually gets to stand in front of the pieces and decide for themselves.
The exhibition began as a co-production between the Art Institute of Chicago, MACBA in Barcelona, the Barbican and KANAL–Centre Pompidou in Brussels. Earlier versions drew large crowds. London now has its turn. Whether the show escapes the familiar trap of reducing complex histories to grievance narratives will depend on how visitors approach it.
