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Reflections
in Black: Smithsonian African American Photography
Presented by the History Department
Participating Institutions:
Oakland Museum of California
African American Museum and Library at Oakland
Mills College Art Museum
In June 7 - August 31, 2003, an important exhibition was held.
The rich legacy of African American photographers ws explored
in Reflections in Black: Smithsonian African American Photography,
a three-part exhibition that historically documents the black
experience in the United States. The exhibition, the first
ever to explore the history of black photography from 1840
to the present, features a groundbreaking assemblage of work
by 120 photographers presented in more than 300 images of
remarkable expressive power. The exhibition was presented
at the African American Museum and Library at Oakland (AAMLO),
the Oakland Museum of California, and the Mills College Art
Museum.
In
a unique collaboration, the three Oakland museums hosting
the exhibition will comprise the only complete presentation
of Reflections in Black in the western United States. All
three shows open on June 7, 2003. Part One of the exhibition,
The First 100 Years: 1842-1942, will be presented by the African
American Museum and Library at Oakland (AAMLO) through Aug.
31, 2003. Part Two, Art and Activism, will be presented by
the Oakland Museum of California, also through Aug. 31, and
A History Deconstructed will be presented by the Mills College
Art Museum, closing on Aug.10.
"
It's a groundbreaking exhibit," said Oakland Mayor Jerry
Brown. "Over 300 images documenting decades of experience
from slavery through the civil rights era to present day artfully
presented by three of Oakland's cultural and educational institutions."
Images
of family events, human-rights activities and the cultural
vitality of the Harlem Renaissance are among the featured
works. The exhibition counters stereotypes with an interior
view of life in black America, while exploring how African
Americans have embraced photography as a means of creating
and communicating personal and social dignity.
The
First 100 Years, 1842-1942
(presented at AAMLO)
In the 19th and early 20th centuries, African American photographers
were pioneers in the medium of photography. Jules Lion (1810-1866)
began producing daguerreotypes in New Orleans in 1840, just
one year after the invention of the process. These early artists
immediately understood the new medium's power to create a
comprehensive visual legacy and provide support for progressive
social philosophies.
With
Lion's work as a starting point, the first part of the exhibition
follows the development of African American photography through
its first one hundred years. Photographers used newly invented
techniques, including daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, tintypes,
stereographs, composite printing, and flash photography, to
create images that form a technical history of the medium
as well as a pictorial history of African American life.
Some
of the photographers included in this section were:
•
James Presley Ball (1825-1905), a free black abolitionist
who photographed the construction of the Montana state capitol
building and produced thousands of highly prized photographs
for an emerging black middle class in Helena, Montana.
•
Daniel Freeman (1868-?), a painter and sought-after society
photographer who opened his first studio in Washington, D.C.,
where he taught photography and started the Washington Amateur
Art Society. He also represented the District of Columbia
in an exhibition at the 1895 Cotton States and International
Exposition in Atlanta.
•
Arthur P. Bedou (1881-1966), a New Orleans native who rose
to fame through his portraits of jazz musicians, and for documenting
the life of activist and educator Booker T. Washington.
•
Florestine Perrault Collins (1895-1988), who owned and operated
a studio in New Orleans from 1920 to 1949, photographing families
and visiting World War II soldiers. She opened her first studio
in the living room of her home, using relatives as subjects
for portraits that would make her one of Louisiana's most
respected photographers.
Art
and Activism
(presented at the Oakland Museum of California)
Jonathan Eubanks (active 1960s-90s), Black Panther Party member,
Oakland, carrying "Free Huey" flag, Gelatin silver
print, 1969
African American photographers were instrumental in motivating
cultural change while documenting the beginnings of the civil
rights and black power movements in the late 1950s and early
1960s. In this section of the exhibition, marches, meetings,
rallies and leading figures such as Malcolm X, H. Rap Brown
and Thurgood Marshall are seen through the eyes of leading
photojournalists of the day.
These
decades also marked a time of new artistic approaches in photography.
Some photographers moved beyond the traditional goal of objective
reportage, using the power of narrative and metaphor to expand
the awareness of the public and combat the negative stereotyping
found in mainstream media culture. Photographers sought to
be "graphic historians," creating a collective biography
of African American people that would empower them in their
struggle for civil rights, while at the same time providing
evidence of the diversity of their individual histories, values
and goals.
Some
of the photographers included in this section are:
•
Jonathan Eubanks (b. 1927), of Oakland, California, who employed
a documentary style in chronicling the activities of the Black
Panther Party. His photographs explore the personal worlds
of party members as well as their encounters with police and
the lives of their leaders.
•
Chester Higgins, Jr. (b. 1946), a staff photographer for the
New York Times, who has been documenting the African diaspora
for more than thirty years. He is the photographer and author
of several photo collections including "Feeling the Spirit:
Searching the World for People of Africa" (Bantam Books,
1994).
•
Lewis Watts (b. 1946), a Bay Area photographer and assistant
professor of art at U.C. Santa Cruz, who documents the customs
and practices of African Americans living on the West Coast
and in the South through photographs of their cultural landscapes
-- where they live, how they occupy and use space, and the
traces they leave behind.
•
Jean Weisinger (b. 1954), a self-taught photographer based
in Oakland, California, who has traveled widely throughout
the world photographing people of color, and has since the
mid-1980s documented the political activities of African American
women.
•
Chandra McCormick (b. 1957), a native of New Orleans and a
photojournalist, who has been documenting black life in Louisiana
for the past 15 years. Her work has focused on sugar cane,
sweet potato and cotton field workers; cultural rituals in
New Orleans such as funerals and parades; and life in public
housing developments.
A
History Deconstructed
(presented at Mills College Art Museum)
During
the past two decades, African American artists have used their
work to help break down the power that rigid concepts of race
and gender hold in our culture, while redefining the photographic
image as document and metaphor. These artists often deconstruct
and reconstruct their personal histories and public personas
through the symbolic and expressive imagery in their works.
These
artists use strategies that mix and blend text with image
and fact with fantasy in an attempt to challenge the viewer's
assumptions about artistic authority and authenticity. By
questioning commonly held beliefs about representation in
general, they initiate reconsideration, allowing new questions
to be asked and new values to be formed.
Among
the featured artists in this section were:
•
Carrie Mae Weems (b. 1953), who holds degrees from the University
of California in both folklore and photography. Weems uses
photographs, often with text superimposed over the image,
to recall how African Americans have been represented in photographic
history. She also creates sequential photographs and text
that examine the experiences of women in general and black
women specifically.
•
Stephen Marc (b. 1954), who creates primarily autobiographical
digital montages that combine his photographs, drawings, and
computer-generated imagery with snapshots from the family
archive and collected antique photographs.
•
Albert Chong (b. 1958), who was born in Jamaica of African
and Chinese ancestry, and incorporates references to all three
cultures in his work, which uses family photographs, religious
icons and animal remains to explore ritual as it is translated
into art.
•
Keba Armand Konte (b. 1966), an Oakland-based photographer
who has been making photographs since age 14. In his current
work, he expands familiar references by printing his images
on unconventional surfaces, creating works of photomontage
on wood.
•
Cynthia Wiggins (active 1990s), who uses photographs and text
to create a narrative about the hard work done by men in her
family, emphasizing the difficult and dangerous nature of
labor.
Reflections
in Black: Smithsonian African American Photography was curated
by Deborah Willis, former curator of exhibitions at the Anacostia
Museum and Center for African American History and Culture,
Smithsonian Institution (the originating institution), and
currently professor of photography and imaging at NYU Tisch
School of the Arts. Willis is also a photographer, historian
and the author of the book Reflections in Black: A History
of Black Photographers 1840 to the Present (Norton, 2000).
Reflections
in Black: Smithsonian African American Photography was organized
by the Anacostia Museum and Center for African American History
and Culture, Smithsonian Institution, and is circulated by
Curatorial Assistance, Pasadena, California. Local project
managers for the exhibition are Carey Caldwell, curator of
special projects in history, and Carolee Smith Rogers, history
interpretive specialist, both at the Oakland Museum of California;
Rick Moss, chief curator at AAMLO; and Stephan Jost, director
of Mills College Art Museum.
Presentation
of the exhibition is made possible by the Oakland Museum Women's
Board, with major support from Albertson's and SBC. Additional
support provided by the Port of Oakland. Media sponsors are
KBLX 102.9 FM and The Oakland Tribune.
Special
thanks to Brothers Brewing Company, Marriott Hotel, Southwest
Airlines.
Please
visit the Reflections in Black website from the Anacostia
Museum and Center for African American History and Culture,
Smithsonian Institution.
The African American Museum and Library at Oakland is dedicated
to discovering, preserving, interpreting and sharing the historical
and cultural experiences of African Americans in California
and the West. The museum is located at 14th Street and Martin
Luther King Jr. Way in Oakland. Museum hours are Tuesday through
Saturday, noon to 5:30 p.m. Admission is free. For more information,
call 510/637-0200 or visit the museum web site at www.oaklandlibrary.org/AAMLO.
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