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Plan Your Visit

The International African American Museum will be open to the public for Presidents’ Day on Monday, February 17, 2025.

Plan your visit and purchase your admission tickets today to explore the museum.  

Ming Smith: Feeling the Future

January 31, 2024 - April 21, 2024

Portraiture is the heart and soul of Ming Smith's photography. For nearly 50 years, Smith's images have portrayed Black life and embodied the root emotions at the heart of individuals and communities. 

Feeling the Future is a collection of works spanning five decades and is the first comprehensive consideration of Smith's work in a museum. The exhibition combines street photography, figurative imagery, abstract compositions, and new experimental film. Smith's depiction of life focuses on expressing the spirit of the moment rather than documenting events, making the viewer feel as if they are a part of the experience. Capturing the many experiences life has to offer both in the United States and abroad, Smith blurs the line between art and life, expanding the boundaries of image-making. Unless otherwise noted, all works in the exhibition are archival pigment prints courtesy of Ming Smith Studio. 

Ming Smith: Feeling the Future is organized by Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, curated by James Bartlett, and conceived by Janice Bond.