October marks Black History Month in the UK. This year's theme is 'Standing Firm in Power and Pride' and there's a lot happening around the country to honour the traditions and contributions of Black people both here and abroad (although it's not to be confused with Black History Month in the US which takes place in February).

The Bloomberg Connects guide allows access to hundreds of museums worldwide

Did you know that you can find out more about Black history and the work of Black British artists on Bloomberg Connects, a free app that allows you to explore museums and galleries worldwide. Below is a list of five permanent displays, collection highlights or temporary exhibitions that are a perfect complement to the many festivals, walking tours and musical events across the UK this autumn that celebrate the resilience and strength of Black communities.

'100 Black Women Who Have Made A Mark', Serendipity Institute for Black Arts & Heritage, Leicester

This project was born out of a desire to see a far great representation of Black women. The resultant exhibition, first shown at the Serendipity Institute for Black Arts and Heritage in 2024 and earlier this year at the Curve Theatre, featured 100 portraits of Black women whose work has made an impact on British and Irish life across a diverse range of sectors, including arts, activism, politics and science.

Project illustration for '100 Black Women Who Have Made A Mark' by Patricia Vester

This poignant celebration of the everyday actions of these Black women serves to confront the broader historical erasure of Black figures, particularly in an art-historical context. You can find out more about the project on Bloomberg Connects, which includes information about the five artists who were tasked with creating the portraits and also listen to an accompanying podcast series which tells a more detailed story about the 100 women. You can view the online exhibition here.

You can also catch a work by one of the artists, Yvadney Davis, on show as part of the Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer Portrait Award 2025 – a celebration of contemporary portraiture – at the National Portrait Gallery in London (until 12th October 2025). Inset Day (2025) depicts the artist's daughter wearing a vivid red dress. Find out more on Bloomberg Connects.

The Great Kingdom of Benin, Horniman Museum and Gardens, London

This display, on show in the Horniman Museum's World Gallery, draws attention to the rich cultural and political history of the Kingdom of Benin, with a particular focus on Benin City in modern-day Edo State, southern Nigeria.

Significantly, the display includes 24 of the Benin objects returned to Nigerian ownership in 2022, which were looted from Benin City in 1897 and are now on loan to the Horniman. Of these objects, five are brass plaques known as the 'Benin bronzes', the display of which is complemented by a newly commissioned bronze sculpture by Benin artist Osaru Obaseki. Her work is a celebration of women from Edo history. Watch Obaseki talk about her sculpture in a video on Bloomberg Connects.

You can watch a newly commissioned video about the Benin display and listen to a soundscape on the museum's Bloomberg Connects guide, as well as finding out more about the commissions created in collaboration with school pupils in Benin City and the Nigerian community in London.

A wider celebration of Nigerian creativity can be found in Tate Modern's examination of Nigerian artists working before and after independence in 1960. 'Nigerian Modernism' (8th October 2025 – 10th May 2026) considers artistic networks across Nigeria and Europe, and includes a range of artworks – from paintings and textiles to sculpture and poetry. Don't miss works by Ben Enwonwu, Uzo Egonu and El Anatsui.

Black British artists at Wolverhampton Art Gallery

The BLK Art Group, a collective of young artists from the West Midlands, was formed in Wolverhampton in 1979 so it's not surprise that the Wolverhampton Art Gallery has a number of works by artists associated with the movement. The Gallery's 1981 exhibition 'Black Art an' Done', alongside the first National Black Art Convention at the Polytechnic a year later, drew attention to art that reflected the social and political realities faced by a generation of Black British communities.

The Bloomberg Connects guide to the Gallery includes highlights from the collection, and information on artists associated with the BLK Art Group – including Keith Piper, Claudette Johnson and Chila Kumari Singh Burman. Other highlights which aim to shine a light on Black life in all its complexity include Still Life (1995) by Kimathi Donkor which depicts a young prisoner in the act of letter writing, and Ann (2022) by the Jamaican-born British artist Eugene Palmer.

As the description on Bloomberg Connects tells us, this portrait is based on a photograph and represents the artist's sister. Although clearly a contemporary portrait, Ann is depicted in profile which references classical portraiture. Interestingly, though, this work is situated in the Georgian Gallery and in fact references formal Georgian portraiture – the lace of Ann's blue dress is a nod to the richer members of that society whose wealth was often a result of empire.

'Jamaican Journeys: Identity, Place, and Conversations through Art', University of Dundee Museums (until 24th October 2025)

This exhibition looks at the range of visual culture that has emerged from Jamaica since independence in 1962. Drawing on the private collection of the Jamaican-born entrepreneur Theresa Roberts, the show examines what it means to be Jamaican and how we might think about shifting identities in a postcolonial context.

Among the highlights, which you can find listed on the Bloomberg Connects guide to the show, is the work Orpheus by Jamaica's most well-known sculptor, Edna Manley – you can also see her work Eve from 1929 on Art UK, which is carved from one piece of wood. Manley, who was born and studied in the UK, spent most of her life in Jamaica, going on to play an important cultural and political role – not least in the field of arts education.

The slave trade at London Museum Docklands

In telling the story of 400 years of Docklands history, this museum does a lot to draw attention to just how much the slave trade shaped London. There's lots of information about the Sugar & Slavery gallery on Bloomberg Connects, which also makes clear the museum building's own complex history – it was built to store the sugar from West Indian plantations at the time when Britain was trading in enslaved Africans.

See the names of the captains and owners of ships that sailed from London to trade in slavery

You can also browse some of the objects and works of art on show, including May Morning (1761–1770) by John Collet which satirises London's May Day procession and includes the depiction of a black servant. This serves as a visual reminder of the slave trade, while also revealing the extent to which Black figures in works of art from this period were often represented in racist or stereotypical ways.