Art History Course: Black Artists Working in Photography  

Online, via Zoom

This three-part course explores the work of the artists of the Kamoinge Workshop, a collective of Black photographers formed in the 1960s. It offers participants an overview of how the Kamoinge Workshop developed an approach to image-making that centers the technical production, study, and distribution of images to create an image archive of Black lives. We consider how their work connects to a long history of Black artists countering institutional neglect and reproach by developing communities in order to sustain their craft and the work of their peers.

With a focus on analog photography and darkroom techniques across the twentieth century, the lectures will bring the photographers of the Kamoinge Workshop in dialogue with the history of Black photography in the United States, including the work of James Van Der Zee, Carrie Mae Weems, Lorna Simpson, Dawoud Bey, and Lyle Ashton Harris.

An open Q&A and discussion follows each session. Registrants can access on-demand course recordings for the duration of the course.

Friday, January 29
The Camera

Friday, February 5
The Body

Friday, February 12
The Space

Ayanna Dozier is an artist, lecturer, curator, and scholar. She recently completed her Ph.D. in art history and communication studies at McGill University. She is the author of the 33 ⅓ book on Janet Jackson’s The Velvet Rope. She is currently a Joan Tisch Teaching Fellow at the Whitney and a lecturer in the department of communication and media studies at Fordham University.