The history of slavery in America is the focus of a new sculpture park in Montgomery, Alabama.

For the first time in the 127-year history of the Venice Biennale, the world’s oldest and most important contemporary art fair features a majority of female and gender non-conforming artists, under the curatorial direction of Cecilia Alemani.

American sculptor Simone Leigh is the first Black woman to headline the U.S. Pavilion at the Venice Biennale contemporary art fair.

People look at a newly installed sculpture by artist Simone Leigh on the University campus in Philadelphia, Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2020. Leigh's 16-foot-tall bronze bust of a Black woman has been installed at the entrance to the heart of the University of Pennsylvania's campus. “It examines the histories of Black women, of people of African descent, of women of all colors. “It’s a moment for Black women artists in particular. “Black women sculptors are making really powerful pieces that take up a lot of space.”___Mark Kennedy is at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits

In this 2020 photo provided by Boston's Institute of Contemporary Art, artist Simone Leigh poses for a photo at Stratton Sculpture Studios in Philadelphia. Leigh will be the first Black woman ever to represent the U.S. at Italy's prestigious Venice Biennale arts festival to be held in 2022. (Shaniqwa Jarvis/Simone Leigh and Hauser & Wirth via AP)Simone Leigh is renowned for creating artworks that transcend race and gender to celebrate Black women and give them a voice. She'll be the first Black woman ever to represent the U.S. at the prestigious Venice Biennale arts festival, the State Department's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and Boston's Institute of Contemporary Art said Wednesday. “Brick House,” her towering 16-foot-tall (5-meter-tall) bronze bust of a Black woman with braids, is currently installed on Manhattan's elevated High Line greenway.