9 Richmond art exhibitions highlighting Black artists and stories

RICHMOND, Va. — Dive into the work of Black artists and Black history at one of these current or upcoming art exhibitions in Richmond.

Black History Museum & Cultural Center of Virginia

122 W Leigh Street
Richmond, VA 23220

Portals

Multiple locations in Shockoe Bottom

This community-based exhibition features large-scale, historic photographs on storefront windows that depict African Americans from the early 1800s to the 1980s. The photos are pertinent to the Association for the Study of African American Life and History’s Black History Month theme of “African Americans and Labor.”

For more information, visit the BHMVA’s website.

We are the Builders: Honoring the Contributions of Black Workers in Virginia

Open until April 30
Admission included with museum admission

This exhibition also highlights the ASALH Black History Month theme of 2025.

For more information, visit the BHMVA’s website.

Watch: Black History Museum's new exhibits honor contributions to give voice to 'Black Virginia stories'

Institute for Contemporary Art at VCU

601 W Broad Street
Richmond, VA 23220

Eigengrau

Open until March 9
Free admission

This exhibition by artist Caitlin Cherry combines painting, sculpture, and installation to explore Black femininity and contemporary female identity.

Dear Mazie,

Open until March 9
Free admission

Dear Mazie, focuses on the life of Amaza Lee Meredith, a trailblazing artist and educator known as one of the nation’s few Black female architects.

For more information, visit the ICA’s website.

The Valentine

1015 E Clay Street
Richmond, VA 23219

Edmund Archer: Perspectives on Black Dignity

The Valentine Museum

Open until Sep. 1
Admission included with museum admission

Richmonder Edmund Archer’s portraits of Black men and women ‘tell the story of a progressive group of Richmond artists working at the end of the Jim Crow era,’ the museum’s website reads.

For more information, visit the Valentine’s website.

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts

200 N Arthur Ashe Boulevard
Richmond, VA 23220

Home/Grown: Photographs by Susan Worsham and Brian Palmer

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts

Open until April 6
Free admission

The works by photographer Brian Palmer in this exhibition capture Henrico’s East End Cemetery, one of multiple historically neglected Black cemeteries in Central Virginia.

For more information, visit the VMFA’s website.

Theaster Gates: Wonder Working Power

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts

Open until March 9
Free admission

This exhibition highlights Theaster Gates’s mastery of clay and its cultural significance while exploring themes of spirituality and urban revitalization.

For more information, visit the VMFA’s website.

RVA Community Makers

Unveiling Feb. 13
Free admission

This year’s iteration of an annual installation honoring Black community leaders is sculpted vessels by artist Kourtenay Plummer celebrating each honoree.

For more information, visit the VMFA’s website.

Virginia Museum of History and Culture

428 N Arthur Ashe Boulevard
Richmond, VA 23220

A Better Life for Their Children

Virginia Museum of History and Culture

Open until April 20
Admission included with museum admission

This exhibition showcases 26 photographs taken by artist Andrew Feiler on a journey around the South to document the legacy of schools funded by Booker T. Washington and Julius Rosenwald. Their program funded thousands of schools for Black children between 1912 and 1937, countering the educational disparities present in the Jim Crow era.

For more information, visit the VMHC’s website.

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