On Black Photography

HistoryMaker Don West

This week, I decided to explore the relationship between black people and photography. According to HistoryMaker Don West (1937-), a photographer who documented Boston’s African American community for over thirty years, photography began to emerge around the 1800’s, and at the time, Frederick Douglass was the most photographed American of the 19th century. West notes:

“And it's a very interesting exhibit in the sense that he, I guess next to [President] Abraham Lincoln, was the most photographed individual in the 1800s…He made a very conscious choice to be photographed, and in a certain way. Because what he was trying to do was to give a new sense of who the black person, or African American was after slavery and around those times…He saw photography…as a tool to change the perception of who black people are through images.” [1] 

The sentiment and urge to change the perception of black people through imagery never ceased to stop. In 2014, the documentary, “Through a Lens Darkly: Black Photographers and the Emergence of a People”, inspired by Deborah Willis’ Reflections in Black (2000), showcased the desire of African Americans to change their image and to take control over visual production of themselves. West relayed that a lot of black photographers emerged in response to that desire, like Gordon Parks and James Van Der Zee. Not only were black photographers interested in taking control over their visual production of themselves, but they were also compelled to showcase all aspects of their community:

“And they documented their communities, you know. And they, they showed the good and the bad, but they showed that these are people just like everybody else. And that's the mantle I kind of adopted as I went into photography too. I think I feel to be in that pantheon of photographers who have tried to make the community feel and look better, and be perceived in a much more positive light.” [2]

HistoryMaker Deborah Willis

Don West’s interview led me further into the work of HistoryMaker Deborah Willis (19448-), a photographer and curator who was also the former exhibitions curator at the Smithsonian’s Center for African American History and Culture and was a recipient of the 2000 MacArthur Fellowship. At a point in time, Willis became fascinated with photographing beauty shops and the women in them getting their hair done. During her interview, she makes a lovely remark on how the people who are commonly care-givers, like mothers, were the ones getting taken care of in these settings: 

“Yeah, they were getting their hair--but they were actually being taken care of; they were--someone to--they were caregivers, and here is a reversal that they were actually having their hair washed and combed, and someone was listening to them. So, my work was, you know, developing in that way.” [3]

Willis knowingly captured the tenderness of care that fills black beauty shops, and I wonder if she, too, was purposefully attempting to re-direct the gaze. There seems to be a definite poetic nature to her choice to capture this at that time. 

HistoryMaker Gordon Parks

As I was exploring the digital archive, I made sure to check anything pertaining to HistoryMaker Gordon Parks (1912-2006) – how could I not? I came across his HistoryMakers interview conducted in 2001 where he discussed the poetry in his art. To him, everything must be filled with poetry: 

“Well, the poetry ties it all together for me. I want everything I do to be filled with poetry, whether it's music or whether it's a photograph or whatever. It has to have poetry in it for me. That's why poetry is so important for me.” [4]

HistoryMaker Dawoud Bey

I found this quite compelling considering Dawoud Bey’s reflections on the black photographer’s position in artistry. Dawoud Bey (1953-) is a photographer whose work has been displayed permanently in museums and galleries around the world and is known for his portraits of African Americans and other historically marginalized groups. In detailing how Roy DeCarava blazed trails for other black photographers, he notes, “A lot of times, photographers were kept outside of the artistic world. It was sometimes not accepted as an artistic form…”[5] I began to finalize my search in the archives by finding more about photography being its own specific art form. I came across an interview with HistoryMaker Donald Camp (1940-), a photographer who was an artist-in-residence and assistant professor of photography at Ursinus College from 2000 to 2010, has been awarded numerous fellowships for his photographic artwork, and was a founding member of the Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists, where he talked about the qualities of a good photographer. To him, a good photographer is one who can transcend or speak beyond their medium: 

HistoryMaker Donald Camp

“The medium is critical because it's, you know, it's the tool but there are a lot of photographers who, if it were a writer, you'd attribute everything to the pencil. It's getting beyond that. When you see a piece of work you know this is DeCarava [Roy DeCarava], you, you can see DeCarava with a hundred other pieces of work and you would know that's DeCarava or that's Robert Frank. You wouldn't confuse it with anyone else…”[6] 

Picturing: A Student Ambassador Update 

This week, we were tasked with researching black photography and visual culture. Although our cohort of student ambassadors aren’t meeting this month in preparation for the upcoming school semester, we will begin our various outreach plans starting in September. 

Notes:

[1] Don West (The HistoryMakers A2016.078), interviewed by Larry Crowe, October 22, 2016, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 1, tape 6, story 9, Don West talks about the history of African American photography.

[2] Don West on how prominent photographers capture their communities.

[3] Deborah Willis (The HistoryMakers A2007.190), interviewed by Adrienne Jones, June 27, 2007, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 1, tape 4, story 3, Deborah Willis describes her photographic work.

[4] Gordon Parks (The HistoryMakers A2001.054), interviewed by Julieanna L. Richardson, March 12, 2001, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 1, tape 5, story 4, Gordon Parks discusses poetry in his art.

[5] Dawoud Bey (The HistoryMakers A2001.003), interviewed by Julieanna L. Richardson, January 12, 2001, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 1, tape 4, story 8, Dawoud Bey details how Roy DeCarava blazed tails for other black photographers.

[6] Donald Camp (The HistoryMakers A2014.144), interviewed by Larry Crowe, June 11, 2014, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 1, tape 4, story 5, Donald Camp describes the qualities of a good photographer.