FLY BALL: Vintage Snapshots of Black Athletes by Twin-Brother Photographers, Morgan & Marvin Smith
St. Nicholas Park – 132nd Street and 139th Street
Jackie Robinson Park
Of the thousands of photographs and prints by Morgan and Marvin Smith in the Schomburg Center’s collections, this exhibition highlights a brief survey of sports snapshots from the 1930s–1950s. From American Negro League baseball team players sliding into home plate to collegiate star-athlete footballers dodging tackles across the field, these photographs document a pivotal era in American sports history.
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‘Chef’ not ‘Cook’: The Process to Plate
The South Street Seaport
‘Chef’ not ‘Cook’: The Process to Plate is a photo series that tells the story of eight industry-leading African-American chefs across New York.
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Perception & Representation: Reframing “Modernity”
Brooklyn Bridge Park – Emily Warren Roebling Plaza
A dialogue between two independent, conceptually entwined projects, by a group of Dutch photographers and by American artist Kennedi Carter.
The Dutch photographers’ work features prominent models of color, in the style of Rembrandt and his contemporaries, to counter the erasure of non-white people throughout Dutch history. Similarly, Carter’s work brings focus to Blackness, belonging, wealth and power, through the visual style of European royalty combined with contemporary Black aesthetics.
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Clayton Sisterhood Project
Roy Wilkins Park
Inspired by the longing for ancestral remembrance through the traditional family album, the Clayton Sisterhood Project explores contemporary kinship, and the continuing legacy built by the photographer’s sisters and nieces from Queens, NY moving onto Clayton, North Carolina land together.
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Throned by Tiffany Smith
Brooklyn Bridge Park – Pier 1
Presented by The Division of Continuing Education at the School of Visual Arts
SVACE is pleased to present Throned, a solo exhibition by SVACE and SVA MFA Photography and Related Media alumna Tiffany Smith, featuring a selection of photographs taken from the artist’s ongoing series which showcases a variety of portraits portraying community members.
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Been Seen
St. Nicholas Park – 132nd Street and 139th Street
The exhibition places in conversation the work of Harlem-based studio photographer Austin Hansen (1910-1996) with six contemporary photographers: Dario Calmese, Cheriss May, Flo Ngala, Ricky Day, Gerald Peart, and Mark Clennon. Their practices explore identity, Black experiences, visual culture, and portraiture.
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Self-Preservation
Brooklyn Bridge Park – Pier 5
Black Women Photographers aims to disrupt the notion that it is difficult to discover and commission Black creatives. It is dedicated to providing a resource for the industry’s gatekeepers.
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Legacy
Old Fulton Street and Prospect Street
Lion’s Tooth Legacy Photo Project, uplifts the stories of seven immigrant and first generation youth photographers. Stories that reflect on the intersections of family, ancestors, joy, race, gender, faith and radical self-love as a way to deconstruct the legacy we choose to carry, heal and part ways from, but also build as future ancestors.
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Saved By Grace
South Beach Promenade
Alice Austen House presents Saved by Grace, an ongoing project by Nataki Hewling documenting senior Black men. This visual story sends the message that our communities need Black male elders to nourish our ecosystems. We need to go the distance to protect their lives.
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dándoles sus flores (giving them their flowers)
Brooklyn Bridge Park – Pier 3
giving them their flowers is a multimodal youth-led storytelling exhibit honoring matriarchs of color through collaged photographs and oral histories.
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Give Her, Her Flowers
Brooklyn Bridge Park – Pier 3 Granite Terrace
Give Her, Her Flowers is a series of collages that revolve around honoring Black women—giving them their flowers while they’re still alive to enjoy them. Featured are advertisements of Black women from a Gold Medal Hair Products catalog (circa 1980s), paired with a variety of flowers from different advertisements.
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Lakou NOU 2021
Brooklyn Bridge Park – Fulton Ferry Landing
Lakou NOU features collaborative community-based art projects that explore what it means to be Haitian American—to belong to two cultures, two worlds—and to be Black in America while also staying true to your heritage.
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The Atlantic’s Inheritance: A Project About American History, Black Life, And The Resilience Of Memory
Brooklyn Bridge Park – Empire Fulton Ferry Lawn
The Atlantic’s Inheritance is an ongoing reporting project that endeavors to fill the blank pages of Black history: to piece together, through reporting and data, the crucial events and conversations that have been intentionally left out of America’s story.
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BLACKNESS IS
Brooklyn Bridge Park – Empire Fulton Ferry Lawn
BLACKNESS IS seeks to highlight and challenge nuanced ideas of Black identity through the presentation of questions blended with landscape scenes of a desert, an environment known to be oppressive towards human life.
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Die lewe is nie reg vir my nie (This life is not right for me)
Brooklyn Bridge Park – Pier 5
Gangsterism in Schauderville was constructed during the apartheid era. Although apartheid is abolished, the trauma that emerged from years of oppression is still alive. This work exemplifies a humane representation of a community, trying not to let the past, nor the stereotypes, define them.
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Flex
Old Fulton Street and Prospect Street
Kennedi Carter (b. 1998) explores ideas of Blackness related to wealth, power, respect, and belonging in her new series of photographs. Carter dressed friends and acquaintances in historically-inspired costumes that represent wealth and power.
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We Are Present: Portraits from the Pandemic and the Uprising
Brooklyn Bridge Park – Pier 2
We Are Present is an excerpt of portraits taken in New York and Minneapolis that documents the lived experiences of Black Americans during the double crisis of the pandemic, and the uprisings against injustice.
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Cimarrona: Women and African Spirituality
Brooklyn Bridge Park – Emily Warren Roebling Plaza
This ongoing project explores the representation of women and African spirituality: as guardians of ancestral African practices, as a method of cultural preservation, and to challenge the cultural resistance of the diaspora in the Ecuadorian territory.
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OPEN DOORS
Brooklyn Bridge Park – Emily Warren Roebling Plaza
As part of the OPEN DOORS arts and justice initiative, the Reality Poets are men who have been harmed by gun violence using storytelling, hip-hop, and the spoken word, challenging their audiences to combat the injustice that breeds violence in New York City neighborhoods.
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Underground Chefs of South Central
Annenberg Space for Photography
Interested in the intersection of race, class, and food, Underground Chefs of South Central is an exploration of black culinary creativity and ingenuity.
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ALTAR: Prayer, Ritual, Offering
Annenberg Space for Photography
ALTAR: Prayer, Ritual, Offering engages photography as a practice containing attributes and religious traditions of Africa and its diaspora.
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Ke Lefa Laka
Brooklyn Bridge Park – Emily Warren Roebling Plaza
Eight years ago, I lost my mother and I needed to explore the possibility of keeping a connection with her. In my journey, I began looking for pieces of my mother in the house, I found many photos and clothes, which had always been there, but which I had ignored over the years. There she was, smiling and posing in these clothes.
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We Are The Undefeated
Brooklyn Bridge Park – Emily Warren Roebling Plaza
This photo exhibition explores the lives of African-Americans through the lens of sport, athleticism and culture. The stories told give an insight into the lives of people from New York City to Cleveland and Mississippi, with a focus on how sports play a role in their lives on and off the court.
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For My Girls
Brooklyn Bridge Park – Emily Warren Roebling Plaza
I empower women by portraying them with power, determination and focus. Many of my images feature women in confident poses, taken from a heroic angle. In For My Girls, I explore how 1990s female hip-hop artists inspired me to be proud of my African-American lineage, unapologetic for my liberated behavior and forceful in my approach to the culture at large.
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Oct
12024
MFON Global Symposium: Collective Energy: A Virtual Gathering
Collective Energy: A Virtual Gathering is a virtual assembly of artists and intellectuals moderated by Adama Delphine Fawundu and Laylah Amatullah Barrayn. We will be discussing the global impact and need for photography collectives when it comes to women photographers.
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Jun
152024
MFON Global Symposium: To Preserve and Protect
A cutting-edge and inspiring group of artists share their perspectives to provoke thought and action, driven by their innovative catalogues of documentary photography and photojournalism.
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Jun
152024
MFON Global Symposium: Expanding the Canon
Creative and innovative panelist navigate the complexities of identity, unravel historical narratives, and celebrate the multifaceted experiences of womanhood.
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Jun
152024
MFON Global Symposium Keynote Discussion: Archiving Our Stories
The symposium keynote discussion featuring Dr. Deborah Willis and Joy Gregory as they explore the vital role of archiving, preserving, and exploring photography and visual culture within African American, Black British, and the broader African diaspora.
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Jun
152024
MFON Global Symposium: Presence & Preservation
The one-day symposium will include a series of panel discussions, featuring scholars, artists, curators and centered around archiving and elevating the voices of women and non-binary of photographers of African descent, as part of Photoville’s annual Festival in New York City.
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Jun
82022
Photoville Education Field Trips: Jeffrey Henson Scales
Featuring photographer Jeffrey Henson Scales discussing his exhibition In A Time of Panthers: Early Photographs
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Jun
82022
Photoville Education Field Trips: Tiffany Smith
Featuring photographer Tiffany Smith discussing his exhibition Throned
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Oct
62021
The Vision Black Female Photojournalists Bring To Major News Coverage
Black female photographers bring a unique visual perspective to major news events. In this talk, Tara and Michael will take a close, fascinating and informative look at key images from 2020’s social justice protests.
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Oct
32021
How To Capture The Essence Of A Moment With Sheila Pree Bright
Bear witness to humanity through an eclectic visual story of music, culture, and creative freedom as fine-art photographer Sheila Pree Bright takes us back to Afropunk 2019 in Atlanta.
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Oct
32021
New Authors, Old Histories
Join National Geographic photographers Philip Cheung, Kris Graves, and Daniella Zalcman in conversation with National Geographic Executive Editor Debra Adams Simmons, as they discuss their ongoing projects visualizing racist and discriminatory histories through a new lens.
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Sep
262021
Unmasking Modern Masculinity With Vanessa Charlot
Challenge the ideas and frequency of notions surrounding black masculinity in an intimate visual series by award-winning photojournalist and documentary photographer, Vanessa Charlot.
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Oct
32020
Black Hollywood: Here Before Now
What does today’s Black Hollywood look like through the lens of a seasoned Black photographer?
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Oct
22020
An Evening with The New York Times
New York Times photographers and editors will share highlights from their coverage of some of the year’s most visually compelling stories. Some of the photographers and editors who created Sources of Self-Regard: Self-Portraits From Black Photographers Reflecting on America will discuss their work.
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Sep
262020
The Gravity of Inclusive Storytelling with Cheriss May
Photographer and Educator Cheriss May shares her experiences, responsibility, and connection to telling the story of national reckoning on race and justice from the lens of a Black woman.
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Sep
142019
Weapon of Choice | Dialogue with Travon Free and Ruddy Roye
Photographers and writers Ruddy Roye and Travon Free discuss how and why their cameras are not only an important weapon in modern storytelling, but through demonstrations of their work, will explain why it’s critical to the landscape of photography for black and marginalized people to be the ones telling these stories.
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Apr
272019
MFON Presents: Altar: Prayer, Ritual, Offerings
A panel discussion moderated by MFON co-founders Laylah Amatullah Barryan and Adama Delphine Fawundu will feature contributing photographers sharing perspectives on photography and spirituality.
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Sep
202015
Under Fire: Black Photographers Creating Agency in a “Post-Racial” America
This panel will convene Black photojournalists who have covered the recent resurgence in incidents of and outrage over racial discrimination nationwide.
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Sep
262013
Question Bridge: Black males
Question Bridge: Black Males opens a window onto the complex and often unspoken dialogue among Black men, creating an intimate and essentially genuine experience for viewers and subjects. This project brings the full spectrum of what it means to be “black” and “male” in America to the forefront. “Blackness” ceases to be a simple, monochromatic concept.
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