‘Black Portraiture[s]’ Conference to Examine Black Built Environments in Los Angeles

The international conference ‘Black Portraiture[s]: Los Angeles: The Black Built Environment’ will take place across two Los Angeles institutions from September 28 to 30, 2026, bringing together scholarship on the physical and imagined spaces shaped by Black communities and the African diaspora.

The event will open at the Getty Center on September 28 with a reception and keynote. Conference sessions will then be held on September 29 and 30 at the UCLA Luskin Conference Center. The convening is described as the Black Portraiture[s] conference’s first appearance on the US West Coast.

The conference is co-hosted by New York University, the Getty and the University of California, Los Angeles. It will be offered in a hybrid format, according to information circulated by the Getty Research Institute, allowing participation beyond the Los Angeles venues.

Its programme will present new scholarship spanning photography, architecture, urban planning and visual culture. The stated focus is the history and complexity of Black built environments, including spaces that are physically constructed as well as those imagined through artistic and cultural practice.

The conference also places this discussion within the cultural continuities of the African diaspora. Its subject connects visual representation with the ways artists envision and construct environments, while addressing the social and historical conditions that give those environments meaning.

The Getty Research Institute’s involvement extends the event’s focus on Los Angeles and Black visual culture. The institute’s current educational resources include 14 K–12 lesson plans based on oral histories from Black Los Angeles artists, supported by photographs, maps, flyers and artworks. These materials address local history, art, Black Los Angeles history, race, power and community activism through art.

The opening reception and keynote will be held at the Getty Center on September 28, followed by conference sessions at the UCLA Luskin Conference Center on September 29–30. Attendance is free and registration is open through the Getty event listing.