Black Artists Shaping the World

Dedicated to the work of contemporary Black artists from around the world, this engaging book for young readers is an exuberant introduction to artists twenty-six contemporary Black artists from Africa and of African descent.

Written by award-winning Black British children’s author Sharna Jackson, Black Artists Shaping the World celebrates the diversity of work being produced today by Black artists from around the globe. It introduces young readers to 26 contemporary artists from Africa and of the African diaspora, all working in a variety of media from painting, sculpture and drawing to ceramics, installation art and sound art.

The result is a refreshingly contemporary celebration of Black artists at work today that will serve as inspiration to a new generation of aspiring young artists. Artists featured include British Turner Prize-winning painter Lubaina Himid and film maker Steven McQueen; renowned South African visual activist Zanele Muholi; Nigerian sound artist Emeka Ogboh; Ethiopian-born Julie Mehretu; Sudanese painter Kamala Ibrahim Ishaq; Kenyan-British ceramicist Magdalene Odundo; African-American artists Kerry James Marshall, Faith Ringgold, Amy Sherald and Kehinde Wiley; Afrofuturist-inspired performance artist Harold Offeh; and moving image artist Larry Achiampong.

‘The world as we know it, has in many ways been shaped by the creative genius of Black people and their unparalleled contribution to civilisation. This publication draws on the civilisational splendour of our forebears, while also serving as a call for today's Black artists to use their creative genius to reconfigure the face of the world once more and to humanise it through art. For this reason, I am both honoured and excited to be a co-architect of this historic moment.’ – Zizipho Poswa, Ceramicist.

Sharna Jackson is an award-winning children’s author and curator, who has worked for over a decade in the cultural sector, both at Tate in London and at Site Gallery in Sheffield. She is the author of four books for children, including the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize 2020 winner High-Rise Mystery, 2019 and Mic Drop,2020.

Dr Zoé Whitley is the Director of London’s Chisenhale Gallery and co-curator of Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of BlackPower, 2017, the renowned exhibition of black artists in America which received critical praise and large audiences, both at Tate Modern and on its extensive North American tour.

• Dimensions 24.9 x 18.3 cm x 2 cm
• ISBN 9780500652596
• Hardback Yes
• Number of illustrations 62
• No of pages 114