AGBS - Art Galleries at Black Studies

The Art Galleries at Black Studies at The University of Texas at Austin stands as a dynamic cultural center dedicated to modern and contemporary art from Africa and the African Diaspora. Established in 2016, AGBS affirms that art belongs to everyone and must remain accessible to all. Located within the Gordon-White Building, its Christian-Green Gallery, Idea Lab, and multiple project spaces create an environment where exhibitions, research, and dialogue unfold side by side. Free and open to the public, AGBS serves both campus and broader communities, fostering meaningful encounters with visual culture.

At the core of AGBS is a permanent collection of nearly 1,300 objects, stewarded in collaboration with the Black Diaspora Archives. Among its particular strengths are works on paper, including a significant body of photographs that anchor its photography program. These photographic holdings trace diverse histories and contemporary perspectives across Africa and the Diaspora, offering insight into identity, migration, memory, resistance, and daily life. By presenting photography alongside prints, drawings, artists’ books, paintings, and sculpture, AGBS emphasizes the medium’s documentary force and conceptual depth. Exhibitions regularly draw from the collection to illuminate the evolving language of lens-based practices and their impact on social and cultural narratives.

As a teaching museum aligned with the standards of the American Alliance of Museums and the Association of Academic Museums and Galleries, AGBS integrates curatorial practice with pedagogy. Students engage directly with original photographs and other artworks, learning not only art history but also exhibition design, interpretation, and collections care. The galleries function as laboratories for critical inquiry, where visual analysis intersects with scholarship in the humanities and social sciences. Through exhibitions, loans, research access, and collaborative initiatives across campus, AGBS ensures that its photography collection remains an active educational resource—one that reflects the richness, complexity, and creative vitality of Africa and the African Diaspora.