Denise Murrell is the curator of <em>The Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism</em>, featuring works like Archibald J. Motley Jr.'s<em> Black Belt</em>.

Denise Murrell is the curator of The Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism, featuring works like Archibald J. Motley Jr.'s Black Belt. / Photos courtesy of The Met

It's Been a Minute host Brittany Luse and producer Liam McBain took a little field trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York — and after having a Gossip Girl moment on the steps, they saw a brand-new exhibit: The Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism. Brittany and Liam explored the exhibit's wide-ranging subject matter: paintings, photographs, explosive scenes of city life, and quiet portraits of deep knowing — but they also learned that the Harlem Renaissance started a lot of the cultural debates we're still having about Black art today. Like — what is Black art for? And how do Black artists want to represent themselves? After the show, Brittany sat down with the curator, Denise Murrell, to dig a little deeper into how the Harlem Renaissance laid the groundwork for Black modernity.