Category: Photography
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Artist a Day: Louis Draper
I’ve spent the better part of this rainy week devoting time in the Artist a Day series to the incredible black and white photography created by artists in the Kamoinge Workshop; one common thread among them is that many were represented by the now shuttered Steven Kasher Gallery in New York. Kasher wound down his…
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Artist a Day: Shawn Walker
“Any photographer that’s been out here in the world, you see 2 people in white, you follow them…” Shawn Walker, VMFA 2017. As one of the founding members of Kamoinge, Shawn Walker dedicated his life’s work to black and white photography. He counts Roy DeCarava as one of his strongest influences, and in his 2017…
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Artist a Day: Beuford Smith
Good storytelling, just like a good joke, lives and dies on timing. It comes as no surprise that photographer Beuford Smith knows a thing or two about timing. His black and white photography capturing the streets of New York all bear the same marker of sublime, serendipitous timing. Smith’s photographs are mementos of moments which…
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Artist a Day: Ming Smith
As a young model in New York, Ming Smith was drawn to photography and portraiture. Her friendship with photographer Anthony Barboza cultivated her artistic interests and she eventually became the first woman to join New York’s Kamoinge’s photography collective. In 1975 MoMA acquired one of her works making Smith the first Black woman photographer represented…
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Unsynthesized Intuitions: Confronting Discomfort with Adrian Piper
As I left Adrian Piper’s “Concepts and Intuitions” at the Hammer museum, I noticed a series of wooden structures resembling voting booths positioned outside of the exhibit’s entrance. I walked into one of the private booths steadying myself as I prepared to write in the binder that was resting on a shelf in front of…
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What’s in a Name? Reflections from the Looking Glass
It happened without fail on the first day of school, always with such a predictable regularity that it became comical. In the first few minutes of a new class, a teacher would fastidiously take roll call, easily cruising through all the last names until they got to the “Ls”. That’s when the knot in my…
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Artist a Day: Lorna Simpson
Lorna Simpson’s work body of multi-media work is so diverse it’s too hard to single out just one work for discussion, but I’m picking a piece she created in 2016 that I recently saw at the Tate Modern. Then and Now is an appropriated photo from the Detroit riots of 1967—a screen-printed tableau that’s split…
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Artist a Day: Jamel Shabazz
Before Rap Squats became a meme, any musical artist coming out of the 1980’s had to have a perfect album cover pose, and Jamel Shabazz’s photography captured the look. His portraits not only gave us a contemplative look at Brooklyn in the 1980’s and 1990’s, his ability to connect to his…
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Artist a Day: Khadija Saye
I spent some time in London recently and while there I wondered if the U.K. celebrates Black History Month-it turns out they do in October! My Artist a Day profiles have never been limited to U.S. artists so, in light of my recent travels, I thought I would highlight an artist whose life was tragically cut…
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Artist a Day: Rico Gaston
I love the graphic design elements in Rico Gaston’s paintings. My favorites include an ongoing series that marries collage and colored pencil on paper in images that radiate off the page. The black and white images of musicians, writers, entertainers, and activists are augmented by bold, colorful lines that amplify the subject’s energy.…
Colony Little, Culture Shock Art 