NEW YORK, NY.- At a time when galleries and museums are focusing on diversity in the artists they show, Christie’s auction house this month will collaborate with the Black-owned Galerie Myrtis in Baltimore to sell a selection of work by six contemporary Black artists.

“It gives us the opportunity to think about the auction model and try to expand it,” said Julian Ehrlich, the Christie’s specialist organizing the sale. “The goal is to bring a wider group of voices into the Christie’s world.”

The paintings, to be featured in Christie’s “Post-War to Present” sale on Sept. 29, were all chosen by Myrtis Bedolla, the founder of the gallery.

“It is very impactful and part of what needs to happen across the board,” Bedolla said. “It’s important in achieving our blue-chip status, the visibility that it allows for us as it relates to equity and Black economic empowerment.”

The group of works — “Time, Space, Existence: Afro-Futurist Visions From Galerie Myrtis” — echoes the gallery’s exhibition “The Afro-Futurist Manifesto: Blackness Reimagined,” currently on view at the Venice Biennial through Nov. 27.

Among the artists whose work is featured are Monica Ikegwu, who focuses on Black portraiture; Morel Doucet, a Miami-based multidisciplinary artist; and Larry Cook, a Washington-based photographer.

“There are serious concerns addressed in their work that we’re bringing to a global audience,” Bedolla said.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.