08/04/2026
Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey is now in theaters, bringing Homer’s ancient epic to IMAX screens. But nearly fifty years ago, Romare Bearden had already transformed the story—using collage to create a distinctly Black and profoundly universal vision of journey, displacement, endurance, and homecoming.
Created in 1977, Bearden’s Black Odyssey comprises twenty collage compositions inspired by Homer’s poem, accompanied by related watercolors and later screenprints. Bearden made every figure Black—from Odysseus and Penelope to the gods, monsters, and adversaries—and relocated the story within the visual world of Benin.
The result was not simply an illustration of Homer. It was a new cultural conversation.
Throughout his career, Bearden returned to travelers: people leaving home, remembering home, searching for home, and finding themselves changed by the journey. In Black Odyssey, that lifelong concern meets the history of African-American migration and displacement—and the universal human longing to belong somewhere.
In Home to Ithaca, Bearden even rewrites the moment of arrival. Homer’s Odysseus reaches Ithaca asleep. Bearden’s stands at the bow of his ship, facing the destination that endurance has finally brought within reach.
“Life is going to triumph somehow.”
Explore Bearden’s world and discover how his art continues to transform the stories we thought we knew.
