critical-objects:“To capture the attitude of black women on film, without categorizing their
critical-objects: “To capture the attitude of black women on film, without categorizing their posture as sassy, docile, and/or threatening, is a transformative act.” –Deborah Willis Deborah Willis has devoted her entire life’s work to championing black artists and establishing the canon of African American photography. Citing inspiration from Frederick Douglass’s assertion that “negroes can never have impartial portraits at the hands of white artists,” Willis has written extensively on photographers of the African Diaspora, plucking some from obscurity and elevating the scholarship around others, curating major exhibitions and producing the beautiful documentary Through a Lens Darkly. Her project is certainly a corrective one, but it’s more than that—it’s the creation of a new space for discourse, critique, and celebration, in which African American photographers can be considered on their own terms. Recently more attention been paid to Willis’s own photography practice, which illustrates many of the mobilizing ideas of her scholarship. Counter to the racist depictions and reductive stereotypes thrust upon black people for centuries by white artists, as well as the widespread expectation of contemporary black artists to perform and exaggerate their blackness, Willis’s images are warm and understated, examining quiet pockets of joy as well as the subtle ways racism pervades daily life. I love this image of Carrie Mae Weems getting her hair done at a salon; the mere thought of these two brilliant women sharing such a casual moment of intimacy is enough to renew my faith in the world. Deborah Willis, Ft. Lauderdale Beach, 2014 -- source link
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