we-other-victorians: Black Chronicles II Check out the full gallery behind the above link for an exh

we-other-victorians: Black Chronicles II Check out the full gallery behind the above link for an exhibition currently on display in London of studio portraits of Black Victorians, because they are absolutely stunning. Black Chronicles II is a public showcase of Autograph ABP’s commitment to continuous critical enquiry into archive images which have been overlooked, under-researched or simply not recognised as significant previously, but which are highly relevant to black representational politics and cultural history today. For the first time a comprehensive body of portraits depicting black people prior to the beginning of the second world war are brought together in this exhibition - identified through original research carried out in the holdings of national public archives and by examining privately owned collections. I’m so ready any time somebody tries to claim that Black people did not exist in England during the Victorian period. I’m so ready every time they tell me they’ve never read books about them, or seen photos of them, or seen them in movies set in the period. I’m ready with a mess of arguments that go something like this: Race’s intersection with class means that few Black people had the money for the then-highly expensive photographic processes Systematic inequality kept Black achievements from being recognized or recorded contemporaneously Pop culture has furthered this erasure by drawing its source material from the very same mainstream historical records that, during the Victorian era, consciously removed Black writers, artists, inventors, etc. What I was NOT ready for was being slapped in the face by this archive, which has existed all these years, entirely unresearched, unnoticed and hidden away. Here is real proof that we can all always try and get better; what I’ve written in the above bulleted list is certainly a component in the erasure of Black Victorians, but it’s not the whole story, and it was offensive on my part if I ever made it appear as if it was. Sometimes the achievements of oppressed classes are destroyed or ignored in their own time, but sometimes they are destroyed or ignored in ours. Documents, compositions, plays, patents, photos, stories, and so much more by marginalized people in history exist, and if we mourned them all as lost, no one would have ever gone digging for this archive. So keep on looking with a critical eye, at our stories, and at how we talk about them. If you see a big yawning gap in history, chances are, that’s a shadow, not an absence. Above, John Xiniwe and Albert Jonas, London Stereoscopic Company studios, 1891. CALLING RESIDENTS OF MASSACHUSETTS AND GEORGIA!! This exhibition is currently on the road! I just got to view it in person in Cambridge, MA where it will be residing for just about two more weeks, and it is positively breathtaking in person. The photographs were all, I believe, taken with glass plate photography, meaning some of these photos are so exquisitely detailed and high-resolution that even blown up to massive scale in the gallery, they retain perfect photographic quality.I’m sure you’ve seen this post and others like it discussing the inherent racism in the design of color film; I couldn’t find the exact one, but I distinctly remember a post about how it wasn’t until Hershey’s raised a fuss that they couldn’t film their chocolate for commercials that film manufacturers started to work on widening the light range of their color film technology. There is no such problem in the glass plate photography–the photos and their subjects are luminous and stunning and captured in perfect detail.COOPER GALLERY - CAMBRIDGE, MA: Currently on view until December 11SPELMAN COLLEGE - ATLANTA, GA: January 28-May 14 -- source link

More pics about