Beyond the Frame

As part of Pop to Present: American Art from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, this special conversation brings together three dynamic Black artists and scholars — Elizabeth Freeman, Kainee Simone, and Erykah Jennette — in dialogue with Curator Kenneth Brummel, facilitated by Dione Joseph.

Together, they examine how Black artists have shaped and expanded post-war movements through acts of imagination, defiance, and joy. From the politics of form to the poetics of colour, the kōrero delves into how abstraction becomes a site of freedom — a space where new futures, identities, and communities are continually being remade.

An inspiring exchange at the intersection of art, history, and radical possibility, Beyond the Frame invites audiences to look deeper, listen differently, and witness how Black creativity redefines the canvas — and the world beyond it.