At this year’s “Black Creativity Juried Art Exhibition,” two works by artist Lexus Giles—titled She’s Healed and She is Me—invite visitors into the gallery that houses much of the exhibition’s sculptures.

A 2018 Artnet analysis showed that although the exhibitions focusing on Black artists has jumped to record-breaking numbers in recent years, Black art accounted for less than 3 percent of museums’ acquisitions—in some museums, it was less than 1 percent.

R Black Creativity

Through July 4, Wed-Sun, 9:30 AM-5:30 PM, Museum of Science and Industry, 5700 S. Lake Shore, 773-684-1414, msichicago.org, $21.95, $12.95 for children 3-11, free for members, must reserve timed-entry tickets.

To do this kind of mass selection, the museum relies on the invaluable help of jurors. Multidisciplinary artist Paul Branton is one of five jurors this year. He says he’s always marveled at how remarkable the art is in this exhibition and how it shows the many parallels of Black communities around the world: no matter where an artist is from or where their heritage and inspiration takes them, it shows some of the same triumphs and frustrations of Black life.

But this opening day, of course, was different, and the museum wasn’t sure when it could even open. Not knowing the timing of Black Creativity threw a wrench into a usually well-oiled process, and it took the work of all departments to work through those challenges.

And, the show will be available until July 4, totaling a much longer run than its normal length of less than two months. Because MSI is able to extend the run of the show, it hopes that even though there will be fewer people visiting at a time, more people overall will get to experience it. With all the many changes, Juarez says the past year of planning for Black Creativity has been a learning experience.

“I’m proud of every time I walk into this space, there’s a sense of pride in what Black creatives continue to do,” says Branton, artist and juror. “There’s a sense of pride in when you look back in history, and you talk about five decades’ worth of doing this, that somewhere in a small paragraph in a corner of a history book, that my name is in there somewhere.”   v