Aug 22, 2026, 4 PM – 6 PM

In Conversation: Asmaa Walton of Detroit’s Black Art Library, OlaRonke Akinmowo of The Free Black Woman’s Library with Myron Beasley, Scholar, Curator and Performance Artist

On the occasion of The Drawing Center's current exhibition Certainly An Act: Works on Paper by Pope L., join us for a special conversation and book swap during the residency of Detroit's Black Art Library in our bookshop.

Asmaa Walton of Black Art Library will be joined by OlaRonke Akinmowo of The Free Black Woman’s Library and Myron M. Beasley, PhD. Associate Professor of American Studies and Gender and Sexuality Studies at Bates College for a conversation on the role of libraries in the African American Community as spaces for refuge and restoration, power and purpose.

OlaRonke Akinmowo

OlaRonke Akinmowo is an interdisciplinary artist who works in collage, papermaking, printmaking, book arts, and stop-motion animation, and is also a set decorator and dresser for film and TV. She is the Creator and Director of The Free Black Women’s Library, a social art project in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, which features a collection of over five thousand books written by Black women and Black nonbinary folks. The library also offers a wide array of free public programs, a free store, period pantry, virtual reading club, and a weekly book swap. Her art praxis interrogates the constructs of beauty, safety, and sanity, while prioritizing creativity, connection, and care in her approach.
Myron M. Beasley

Myron Beasley, Ph.D. is Associate Professor of American Studies, and also serves on the committee of Gender and Sexuality Studies at Bates College. His ethnographic research includes exploring the intersection of cultural politics, material culture and social change. He has been awarded fellowships and grants by the Andy Warhol Foundation, the Whiting Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, National Endowment for the Humanities, and most recently the Ruth Landes Award from the Reed Foundation. His ethnographic writing about Africana Cultural Politics, Contemporary Art, Material Culture and cultural engagement has appeared in many academic journals including Text and Performance Quarterly, Gastronomica: The Journal of Food and Culture, The Journal of Poverty, Museum & Social Issues, The Journal of Curatorial Studies, Food and Foodways, and Performance Research. His food film/installation ritual/feast (of his ethnography is Brazil) has appeared in UMMI and Paris film festivals. His recent curatorial projects include The Ghetto Biennale (Haiti), CAAR Paris 7 (France), and Dak’art (Senegal).
Asmaa Walton

Asmaa Walton is a Detroit native and arts educator. Walton completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Art Education from Michigan State University in 2017 and a Master of Arts in Art Politics from New York University Tisch School of the Arts the following year. Walton spent time working at the Toledo Museum of Art and the Saint Louis Art Museum. Walton began Black Art Library in February of 2020 while working at the Saint Louis Art Museum with just 7 books, now the collection holds more than 600 books.

Lead support for Certainly an Act: Works on Paper by Pope.L is provided by Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis. Generous funding is provided by Jill and Peter Kraus, Sarah Arison, and Martin and Rebecca Eisenberg. Additional support is provided by Gladstone; Hilary and Peter Hatch, Bernard Lumpkin and Carmine Boccuzzi, Modern Art, London, Adam Pendleton and Karsten Ch'ien, Vielmetter, Los Angeles, Timur Galen and Linda Genereux, the Hudgins Family, and Ann and Mel Schaffer.

Special thanks to the Estate of Pope.L and Mitchell-Innes & Nash.