February marks the 10th edition of Black History Month Florence, a local grassroots initiative that continues to be a pioneer for Black History Month celebrations in Italy with over 500 events, an extensive research archive, a range of local institutional partners, a physical research center and a community of young artists, activists and scholars testifying to the impact of its culture-shaping programming.

Multi-event calendars are hosted by institutions including SRISA, which is home to The Recovery Plan and Black History Month Florence; long-time partners NYU Florence, Murate Art District, Villa Romana, Centro per l’Arte Contemporanea Luigi Pecci in Prato, Gucci Garden and the European Institute University; and with new collaborations such as Museo Novecento. Black History Month Florence was established by co-founders Justin Randolph Thompson and Andre Halyard (aka Dre Love), in collaboration with the late teacher and journalist Andrea Mi in 2016. The initiative rapidly grew under the joint leadership of Thompson and Janine Gäelle Dieudji, now curator of the National Smithsonian Museum of African Art. Advisors include Antonella Bundu, Pape Diaw, Mathias Mesquita, Marzia Da Luz Ramos Duarte and Jemma Robin Thompson as well as a 20-person team of talented young volunteers dedicated to shaping the institution of The Recovery Plan.
This year’s theme, Tempo Rubato, is a meditation on the erasure, destruction and confiscation of history seen as theft of time. The theme draws upon the musical notation, rubato, which grants the musician interpretative freedom in the performance of time, which can be accelerated and slowed down as a means of expression. This gesture towards agency and self-empowerment is at the root of Black History Month Florence’s efforts.
Highlights include two exhibitions focused on the archival memory of individuals whose proximity to Florence and impact on the socio-cultural terrain have not been given due credit. Murate Art District, which hosts a permanent residency with the Black Archive Alliance, will open an exhibition on American writer, journalist, actor and art collector William Demby. Demby is a critical figure of postwar Italy whose legacy has not received the attention it deserves. His participation in the Avant-Garde of the Fifties in Rome, collecting artworks and shaping the interdisciplinarity of the scene, along with his experimental contributions to the literary canon should be evidence enough of this, while his writing on Post-Colonial Ethiopia and Eritrea and reviews of seminal events like the Second Congress of Black Writers and Artists in 1959 and the Venice Biennial are singular in their perspective and critique. William Demby: Tremendous Mobility brings together unpublished documents and photographs along with published material with artistic meditations on his historical impact by Kevin Jerome Everson and Justin Randolph Thompson. The show draws upon research by Melanie Masterton Sherazi and Shelleen Greene and has been made possible thanks to a partnership with James Demby, the custodian of his parents’ William Demby and Lucia Drudi’s archive and legacy.

Also on view at Murate Art District and in collaboration with Frittelli Arte Contemporanea, Divorando le Pietre is dedicated to Beninois artist Georges Adéagbo and consists of a series of constellations made by the artist in Florence, Rome and Venice just over a decade ago.
George Zogo is the second figure presented in an archive-based exhibition hosted by IED’s recently inaugurated Ex-Teatro del’Oriuolo. The exhibition George Zogo: La Foule et l’Appel unfolds as a tribute, renewed encounter and reflection on the life and work of a talented artist, who spent a half a century living and working tirelessly in Florence. Born in Saha, Cameroon, in 1935, George Abraham Zogo carved a unique path, traversing continents and cultures. This exhibition gathers a rare selection of his works, personal archives and testimonies, weaving together a narrative that is as much about art as it is about belonging, transformation and legacy.

The Recovery Plan is the hub for the initiative and will welcome an exhibition on the archive of Pan African conferences through the work of artist Theophilus Imani. Drawing upon the artist’s recent residency at G.A.S. Foundation in Lagos, Nigeria, the project is a reflection on the memory and future seeds planted by convenings like FESTAC 77 n Lagos and FESTMAN in Dakar. This work is an intimation of future initiatives of The Recovery Plan in advancing the legacy and memory of these ground-shaping initiatives in relation to Africa and its diaspora.
An additional highlight is the sixth edition of the YGBI Research Residency hosted this year by Museo Novecento. YGBI Research Residency is the platform developed by The Recovery Plan dedicated to the training, mentorship and collectivity of Italian artists of African descent under 35 years of age. This work is about designing a road map in order to support young artists, finding them exposure and critical dialogue within a cultural context where the marginalization of history has made contributions of artists of African descent less visible. The platform takes the form of a seven-day research residency, accompanied by a mentor typically in the form of a curator of African descent anchored within the European contemporary cultural landscape. This year’s participants are Damiano Tata, Isabella Costabile, Stephany Nwobodo, Mohammed El Hajoui and Patricia Taide under the mentorship of curator Elena Ndidi Akilo.
Look out on social media for the full program @bhmf_ on IG and Black History Month Florence on FB.