On view in the Trustmark Grand Hall

Our permanent collection has grown to more than 6,000 works, reflecting a wide range of periods, cultures, and media.

From a rare portrait of Frederick, a formerly enslaved man (ca. 1840), to a radical self-portrait by contemporary queer artist D’Angelo Lovell Williams, Structural Dishonesty (2016), this exhibition juxtaposes recent acquisitions by Black artists, and non-Black artists depicting Black subjects across time.

The title Figments alludes to the uneasy place Black people have historically occupied in the visual imagination and American consciousness – often misrepresented, flatted, or idealized. the artworks on view invite us to reflect on these visual legacies and the stories they tell – or omit.

Spanning abstraction, classical portraiture, photography, and sculpture, the works in the exhibition reflect the breadth of MMA’s growing collection-and its commitment to more inclusive and expansive representations.