The Time is Always Now: Artists Reframe the Black Figure presents the work of 22 artists whose practice foregrounds the Black figure. Accompanying an exhibition curated by Ekow Eshun at the National Portrait Gallery, the catalogue draws together some of today’s most important artists – including Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Michael Armitage, Lubaina Himid, Kerry James Marshall and Amy Sherald. As an assertion of the richness and complexities of Black life, The Time is Always Now disrupts the often homogenising framings of Blackness that are typical of Western art history.
Our design for the book responds to the elegance and significance of the artworks exhibited. The book’s layout is ordered according to a strong vertical and horizontal axis. Essays are carefully set in central columns and follow a unified width, while key quotations mirror the cover typography by sitting on a strong horizontal line, creating a layered rhythm of different voices across the book. The colour palette is centered around a pale yellow, which also spills into the gallery’s spaces and beyond. Together, the optimistic colour choice and central horizon help guide readers through a story of Black creativity and imagination.
Photography by Ed Park
