# theBLKGZE > Black photography, visual culture and original research exploring how Black ways of seeing help us understand photography more fully. Public Ghost content for AI and LLM tooling. This file includes a bounded export of public pages first, then recent public posts. Append `.md` to any post or page URL to get the content in Markdown (for example, `/example-post.md`). ## Pages ### Why theBLKGZE? URL: https://www.theblkgze.com/why-theblkgze/ Last updated: 2026-09-04T17:17:53.000Z ## Photography looks different when you change who is looking. theBLKGZE is an independent publication exploring photography through Black photographers, Black archives and Black ways of seeing. But this is not simply a publication about Black photography. It is about what Black photography reveals about photography itself. Who gets to look? Who gets to be seen? What becomes evidence? What gets remembered? What disappears? What does experience make visible that convention has learned to overlook? Black photographers have never simply been added to photography’s history. They have questioned its assumptions, stretched its possibilities and shown us that the camera does not see by itself. Someone is always looking through it. That is where theBLKGZE begins. We look closely at photographs, photographers and archives, but we are interested in what they make us reconsider. A forgotten photographer can change how we understand an entire period. A familiar photograph can look different when we question who made it, who it was made for and what we have been taught to see. An archive can reveal as much through its absences as its contents. Recovery matters. But recovery alone changes very little if recovered work is simply placed inside the same old story. We are interested in what happens when the work changes the story. Because the question is not only who has been missing from photographic history. It is what photography has missed by not looking closely enough. **What does this reveal about photography itself?** ## Start with how we look TheBLKGZE is guided by [**The Terms of Looking**](https://www.theblkgze.com/the-black-gaze/), our manifesto for thinking differently about photography, seeing and knowledge. If you’re new to theBLKGZE, start there. Before asking what a photograph shows us, ask how it came to see it. ### Privacy Policy URL: https://www.theblkgze.com/privacy/ Last updated: 2026-06-21T07:52:30.000Z Effective Date: 15-Nov-2020 Last Updated: 20-Apr-2025 ### Page under construction We’re working on this page and will have it ready soon. In the meantime, if you have any questions or need more information, feel free to [contact us](https://www.theblkgze.com/contact/). Thanks for your patience. Check back again shortly. ### The Terms of Looking URL: https://www.theblkgze.com/terms-of-looking/ Last updated: 2026-09-04T17:16:22.000Z ## The camera has a history - Photography is not neutral. - There is no single way to see. - Proximity is not the same as knowledge. - Representation is not the measure of Black photography. - Blackness does not need to be explained before it can be photographed. - What was preserved is not everything that mattered. - Ordinary Black life does not need struggle to become significant. - The camera is not an unquestioned authority. ## So does the person behind it - Looking is a position. - Experience is photographic knowledge. - Relationship changes what becomes visible. - A photograph carries knowledge that cannot always be separated from its maker. - Black photographers have expanded what photography can see and know. - Archives shape history through what they preserve and what they lose. - The canon is an account, not the whole story. - A photograph can be evidence, memory, invention, intimacy and refusal at once. - Photography should be unsettled by what it has not yet learned to see. - There is always more than one way to look. ### Contact URL: https://www.theblkgze.com/contact/ Last updated: 2026-09-04T17:46:25.000Z ## Start a conversation Have a photographer we should know? An archive we should explore? A photograph that has stayed with you? A story to share? An idea for working together? We want to hear from photographers, artists, writers, researchers, curators, archivists, publishers and anyone with something worth bringing into the conversation. Email us at [theblkgze@gmail.com](mailto:theblkgze@gmail.com). The conversation is better when more voices are in it. ### Terms of use URL: https://www.theblkgze.com/terms/ Last updated: 2026-06-21T07:51:54.000Z Effective Date: 15-Nov-2020 Last Updated: 20-Apr-2025 ### Page Under Construction We’re working on this page and will have it ready soon. In the meantime, if you have any questions or need more information, feel free to [contact us](https://www.theblkgze.com/contact/). Thanks for your patience. Check back again shortly. ### Welcome to Holding Space URL: https://www.theblkgze.com/thank-you-for-signing-up/ Last updated: 2026-06-21T07:51:39.000Z ## Thanks for subscribing Holding Space is our monthly newsletter exploring Black photography, visual culture, and the ideas shaping how we see. You'll be the first to hear about new interviews, essays, opportunities, and projects from across theBLKGZE. Until then, explore the site, discover the photographers featured here, and join the conversation. We're glad you're here. ## Keep exploring - [**Q&A**](https://www.theblkgze.com/tag/q-and-a/) — Conversations with Black photographers about their work, influences, and ways of seeing. - [**My Peoples**](https://www.theblkgze.com/tag/my-peoples/) — Photographers sharing the images, artists, books, and ideas that have shaped them. - [**Shifting the Gaze**](https://www.theblkgze.com/tag/shifting-the-gaze/) — Critical reflections on photography, representation, and visual culture. - [**Essays**](https://www.theblkgze.com/tag/essays/) — Long-form writing exploring Black photography, memory, authorship, and the stories images tell. - [**Allyship**](https://www.theblkgze.com/tag/allyship/) — Resources and reflections for those seeking to engage with Black photography thoughtfully and responsibly. ### Cookies URL: https://www.theblkgze.com/cookies/ Last updated: 2026-06-21T07:52:11.000Z Effective Date: 15-Nov-2020 Last Updated: 20-Apr-2025 ### Page under construction We’re working on this page and will have it ready soon. In the meantime, if you have any questions or need more information, feel free to [contact us](https://www.theblkgze.com/contact/). Thanks for your patience. Check back again shortly. ## Posts ### Which parts of the way you see are actually yours? URL: https://www.theblkgze.com/essays/which-parts-of-the-way-you-see-are-yours/ Last updated: 2026-09-04T18:14:49.000Z We spend years learning how to see before photography teaches us that we are seeing incorrectly. Long before we pick up a camera with any serious intent, we have developed an intimate visual education. We know the faces we recognise, the bodies we trust, the places that feel like home. We learn to read a glance, a gesture, a posture. We learn what deserves our attention and what can remain at the edge of our vision. We learn all of this before we have the language to explain it. ![](https://www.theblkgze.com/content/images/2026/09/garry-winogrand-central-park-zoo-new-york-city-1964-1.jpg) Then we enter photography and discover the masters. Suddenly, some ways of seeing carry authority. There are photographs we are expected to admire, photographers we are expected to study, conventions we are expected to understand. We learn composition, light, distance, timing and subject. We learn what a serious photograph looks like, and gradually, what serious looking is supposed to feel like. This is presented as education, and much of it is. The history of photography contains extraordinary ways of seeing, and learning from those who came before us is part of becoming a photographer. But another education is happening alongside it. We are learning which ways of looking have been legitimised, which have been rewarded, and which have become so familiar that we no longer recognise them as choices. The danger is not learning from the past. It is forgetting that the past is teaching us how to look. Influence becomes instinct. Instinct becomes invisible. We think we have learned how to see when we have actually learned what photography expects us to see. Every photographer arrives at a subject carrying images they did not make. Some came from photographers they admire. Others came from films, newspapers, advertising, museums, family albums and social media. Some were encountered so early and so often that they no longer feel like influences. They feel like reality. This is how a gaze becomes normal. A particular distance from a subject begins to feel objective. A particular treatment of poverty begins to feel documentary. A particular way of photographing a body becomes beautiful, truthful or serious. Certain images are rewarded often enough that their visual logic disappears into the background. We stop seeing the convention and start seeing the subject. This becomes particularly complicated when the subject is Black life. Photography has never simply recorded Blackness. It has participated in constructing the ways Blackness is seen. Black bodies have been photographed as evidence, spectacle, anthropological material, social problem, political symbol and object of fascination. The history matters not only because of what those photographs show, but because repetition can turn a way of looking into an expectation. And that expectation does not belong only to the people who created it. A Black photographer can inherit it too. Being Black does not automatically produce a Black gaze, just as photographing Black people does not automatically produce a Black perspective. A photographer can know their subject intimately and still reach instinctively for a visual language developed elsewhere. They can photograph their own community while reproducing the expectations that photography has attached to it. The camera carries those expectations into the encounter. ![](https://www.theblkgze.com/content/images/2026/09/decarava-body-1-1.webp) Roy DeCarava, **Edna Smith, bassist*, 1950. Consider the photographs of Roy DeCarava. Much of their power lies in what they refuse to make immediately available. His pictures of Black life can be quiet, dark and ambiguous. Faces may emerge only partially from shadow. Context can be withheld. A gesture can remain a gesture rather than becoming an explanation. That refusal matters because photography often rewards clarity. We are accustomed to photographs that tell us where we are, who matters, what has happened and how we should feel about it. DeCarava's photographs can make the viewer stay with uncertainty instead. Black life does not have to become evidence before it becomes worthy of looking at. That is not simply an aesthetic preference. It changes the relationship between photographer, subject and viewer. The subject is not being organised entirely for the viewer's comprehension. The photograph leaves something intact. And this points towards a more difficult understanding of photographic authenticity. ![](https://www.theblkgze.com/content/images/2026/09/190923_r34990.webp) Roy DeCarava, **Jimmy Garrison, bassist*, 1961. We often speak about authentic photography as though it comes naturally from proximity. Photograph your own community, your own culture, your own experience, and the resulting photographs will somehow be more truthful. But proximity does not guarantee understanding, and identity does not make a gaze innocent. We can be close to something and still look at it through somebody else's eyes. The problem, then, is not that we have influences. We cannot avoid them. There is no pure gaze waiting underneath the canon, culture and history, untouched and ready to emerge once we have rejected enough photographers. The task is harder. We have to notice what has entered our way of looking without our permission. What have we been taught to notice? What have we been taught to ignore? What kinds of bodies have we learned to photograph as beautiful, threatening, vulnerable or exotic? What kinds of suffering have we learned to consider visually meaningful? When we photograph someone who looks like us, whose expectations are we satisfying? When we photograph someone who does not, whose idea of them are we carrying into the frame? These are not simply questions about technique. They are questions about responsibility. Perhaps the photographer's greatest act of authorship is not deciding what to photograph, but deciding which inherited ways of seeing to reproduce and which to refuse. That changes what photographic education ought to mean. We should still learn from the masters. But we should also learn to look at the authority we have given them. We should study photographs not only for what they reveal about their subjects, but for what they have taught generations of photographers to expect from looking. We should ask not only why a photograph works, but what kind of gaze it makes feel natural. Because the most consequential thing a photographer inherits may not be a style, a technique or a way of composing a frame. It may be a way of seeing other people. We learn to see long before we learn to photograph. That first visual education is intimate, embodied and largely our own. Photography arrives later with its histories, hierarchies and authorities, offering us a vocabulary for looking and, sometimes, quietly replacing the one we already had. Perhaps becoming a serious photographer is therefore not about finding your own gaze. It is about becoming responsible for the one you have inherited. And before the next photograph is made, there is a question worth sitting with: **Which parts of the way you see are actually yours?** ### The problem isn't the spectacle. It's who gets to define it. URL: https://www.theblkgze.com/essays/the-problem-isnt-spectacle/ Last updated: 2026-09-04T17:02:54.000Z A woman walks towards the camera wearing a horned helmet, her skin glistening in the sun, a heavy chain falling across her chest. Around her, people in costumes and body paint fill the street. Someone carries a fan. Someone else looks directly towards the camera. The scene is loud even as a photograph, full of movement, colour, bodies and performance. It is spectacular. That word can make us uneasy when we talk about photographs of Black people. Spectacle has a long and troubling history. Black bodies have been displayed, exoticised and turned into objects of curiosity for audiences accustomed to looking from the outside. The problem is real. But perhaps we have started asking the wrong question. The problem is not that Black life can be spectacular. It is that photography has too often assumed that spectacle gives it permission to interpret Black life from the outside. Look at this photograph and the temptation is immediate. The horns become exotic. The body becomes provocative. The costumes become strange. The gathering becomes evidence of some unfamiliar culture that needs to be explained to someone who is not there. The photograph can be accurate and still produce that distance. Nothing in the frame has to change for its meaning to change. The people remain dressed as they are. The bodies remain visible. The street remains crowded. What changes is the position from which we look. This is one of the reasons the idea of a Black gaze matters. It is not simply a matter of putting a Black photographer behind the camera, as though identity automatically produces a truthful image. Nor is it a promise that Black photographers will photograph Black life without spectacle. It asks something more difficult: what does the person behind the camera understand about what they are seeing, and what does that understanding allow the photograph to retain? A celebration can be visually overwhelming without being visually alien. A costume can be flamboyant without being exotic. A body can be displayed without being available for consumption. A crowd can be exuberant without being chaotic. These distinctions are easy to lose when photography has already decided what Blackness looks like. For much of photography's history, Black bodies have been made visible through categories imposed upon them. The camera has looked for the primitive, the dangerous, the impoverished, the resilient, the sexual, the suffering. Even apparently sympathetic photographs can reproduce the same distance when the subject's significance is determined primarily by what the image means to the viewer. This photograph resists that possibility because there is no obvious need to translate the scene into a problem. The woman is not asking us to understand her hardship. She is not demonstrating resilience. She is not standing in for an entire community. She is participating in something that has its own visual language, its own pleasures and its own reasons for being. That matters because representation is not the measure of Black photography. A photograph does not become more truthful simply because it shows Black people positively. Nor does it become more problematic because the people pictured are flamboyant, sensual, theatrical or loud. The question is what kind of looking the photograph makes possible. This is where the distinction between spectacle and spectacle from within becomes useful. Every culture has forms of performance, adornment and collective display. People dress up. People dance. People exaggerate themselves. People create occasions in which ordinary rules about appearance and behaviour can be suspended. The camera does not have to flatten those moments into ordinariness in order to respect them. That is important. There is a danger in responding to stereotypical images of Black life by searching only for quietness, intimacy and the everyday. We can end up creating another narrow visual expectation, one in which Blackness becomes acceptable only when it is presented softly. That is not freedom from the gaze. It is another version of it. The Black gaze should be allowed to contain contradiction. It can be intimate and spectacular, quiet and excessive, ordinary and theatrical. It can photograph a person sitting at a kitchen table and a person wearing horns in the street. Neither image has to explain Blackness. The work is in learning how to look. And that responsibility belongs to the viewer as much as the photographer. We bring histories to photographs. We bring expectations. We have learned that certain bodies mean certain things and that certain scenes deserve particular kinds of attention. Sometimes the most revealing thing in a photograph is not what the camera has shown us, but what we immediately assumed it meant. Perhaps that is why this image feels important. It does not ask us to look away from spectacle. It asks us to stay with it long enough to stop treating spectacle as explanation. The people in this photograph do not need to become less visible, less expressive or less extraordinary for us to see them properly. Maybe what needs to change is not the spectacle. Maybe it is the gaze we bring to it. ### Why can we name Black genius in music but not photography? URL: https://www.theblkgze.com/looking-again/why-can-we-name-black-genius-in-music-but-not-photography/ Last updated: 2026-09-01T23:00:11.000Z There is something revealing about how easily we can name Black musicians. Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Miles Davis, Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, James Brown, Bob Marley, Prince, Michael Jackson, Nina Simone, Marvin Gaye, Beyoncé, Public Enemy, Tupac. The list does not feel exhaustive, because it does not need to be. We know there are many more. More importantly, we know why these people matter. We can talk about what each changed, invented, challenged or made possible. We recognise their contribution not as an act of inclusion, but as part of the history of music itself. Now try the same exercise with photography. Name as many Black photographers as you can. For many people, the list becomes difficult surprisingly quickly. Gordon Parks is usually there. Some will add Carrie Mae Weems, Roy DeCarava, Dawoud Bey, James VanDerZee, Ming Smith or others. People deeply engaged with photography can name many more. But outside those circles, the difference is striking. There is an enormous gap between our collective ability to recognise Black musical innovators and our ability to recognise Black photographic innovators. It would be easy to mistake that gap for evidence. Perhaps, someone might argue, Black musicians simply made a greater contribution to music than Black photographers made to photography. Perhaps music produced more Black originators, more Black innovators, more people whose influence changed the direction of the form. Perhaps Gordon Parks really is the photographic equivalent of the much longer musical list. But that argument depends upon accepting something that should make us uncomfortable: that the number of names we can remember is evidence of the number of people who mattered. Nobody would make that argument about music. We understand that Black musical history is not a separate history running alongside the history of music. Louis Armstrong belongs to the history of music. So does Billie Holiday. So does Miles Davis. Their Blackness is not a footnote to their innovation. Their work is part of the reason the form developed as it did. We teach their names because we understand that music itself would be poorer to understand without them. Photography has struggled to extend the same recognition to its Black practitioners. Gordon Parks is an extraordinary photographer, and his place in photographic history is entirely deserved. But there is something peculiar about how often his name becomes the answer to the question of Black photography. One photographer can be presented as evidence that Black photographers have made an important contribution, while his singular prominence can quietly become evidence that there were not many others worth naming. Imagine doing the same thing to music. Imagine saying that Black musical contribution could be adequately represented by Louis Armstrong. The absurdity is immediate. Armstrong's greatness would remain untouched, but everyone would understand that the answer was incomplete to the point of being misleading. His existence would not tell us that Black musicians made a contribution. It would tell us that we had barely begun to look. Perhaps photography needs to confront the same possibility. The issue is not simply that there are Black photographers whom more people should know. That turns the problem into a matter of education, as though a longer list would solve it. The deeper problem is that photography has not developed the same cultural reflex for recognising Black invention that music has. We know how to ask what a musician changed. We are less accustomed to asking what a Black photographer changed. That difference becomes especially strange when we consider how many of the questions photographers have wrestled with are inseparable from work made by Black photographers: who gets to be seen, how a person constructs an image of themselves, what makes a photograph evidence, how private life enters the frame, how history is pictured, how beauty is defined, and what happens when the person holding the camera does not accept the assumptions inherited with it. These are not marginal photographic concerns. They are photographic concerns. Yet Black photographers are still too easily encountered through the category of representation. Their work becomes something photography does to or for Black subjects rather than something Black photographers have done to photography. The distinction is subtle, but consequential. One asks us to consider who is represented. The other asks us to consider what the photographer has contributed to the medium itself. Music rarely requires this distinction to be explained. We can listen to James Brown and discuss rhythm, performance and the architecture of popular music. We can listen to Miles Davis and discuss reinvention. We can hear hip hop and understand that sampling, production, language and authorship altered the possibilities of music. We have learned to recognise Black innovation as innovation. Photography should be capable of the same generosity. Perhaps the most revealing thing about the short list of Black photographers is therefore not that it is short. It is that we have become comfortable with it being short. We rarely experience the absence of names as a problem requiring investigation. Instead, the absence can become confirmation of itself: these are the Black photographers we know because these are the Black photographers who mattered, and these are the photographers who mattered because these are the ones we know. That circular logic has consequences. A canon does not simply preserve what has already been recognised. It teaches us what recognition looks like. The names we encounter become the references through which new work is understood, the histories we inherit become the histories against which new ideas are measured. If Black photographers are consistently missing from that inheritance, then something larger than individual reputations is being lost. We should therefore stop asking whether Black photographers have contributed to photography to the same degree that Black musicians have contributed to music. The comparison is less useful than it first appears. The real question is why we have built such a confident vocabulary for recognising Black musical genius while remaining so uncertain about Black photographic genius. Maybe the problem has never been a shortage of Black photographers. Maybe it is that photography has been looking at its own history and failing to recognise who helped make it. ### When allyship becomes another image of ourselves URL: https://www.theblkgze.com/allyship/allyship-visibility-action/ Last updated: 2026-09-04T16:11:50.000Z There is a particular kind of Instagram post that asks very little of the person who makes it. A black square, a statement of solidarity, a photograph from a protest, a book by a Black author, a list of resources, a declaration that silence is no longer acceptable. The post may be sincere. It may even be accompanied by money, changed behaviour or difficult conversations. But none of that is visible in the image. What is visible is the person who posted it. This is not necessarily a criticism of posting. Public statements can matter. They can signal that racism is being challenged rather than tolerated, amplify voices that might otherwise be missed and create pressure where silence once offered comfort. Visibility can have political value. But visibility has another effect. It gives us something we increasingly seem to want from our politics: evidence of ourselves. The question becomes less about what we have done and more about whether our position can be seen. That distinction matters when talking about allyship. To be an ally is often understood as supporting people whose experiences differ from your own. Yet the language surrounding allyship can easily turn inward. Am I listening? Am I learning? Am I speaking up? Am I using my privilege? Am I supporting Black businesses? Am I doing enough? These are reasonable questions. They can also become a remarkably sophisticated way of thinking about oneself. The difficulty is not that reflection is unnecessary. It is that reflection can become the destination. We can spend considerable energy evaluating the quality of our intentions without asking what those intentions have changed for anyone else. Photography knows something about this already. A photograph is very good at making a position visible. It can tell us where someone stood, what they noticed and what they valued. This is one reason photographs are so useful as social documents. But it is also why they are so easily recruited into the presentation of the self. The contemporary ally has access to an enormous visual vocabulary for doing exactly this. Look at the books on the shelf. Photograph the protest. Share the Black artist's work. Post the statement. Show the donation receipt. Display the badge. Each image can communicate something true while simultaneously communicating something about the person communicating it. This is where things become uncomfortable. The image does not have to be false for the performance to exist. A person can genuinely care about racial justice and still enjoy being recognised as someone who cares about racial justice. Those things are not mutually exclusive. The problem begins when the second becomes easier to measure than the first. Social media makes that imbalance difficult to avoid. A changed hiring practice is difficult to photograph. A conversation with a racist family member leaves little visual trace. Refusing to commission the same photographers because you have always commissioned them is not especially photogenic. Giving someone access to a room from which they have historically been excluded produces no compelling Instagram post. The things that may matter most can be almost invisible. Meanwhile, the things that photograph well can be immediately rewarded. This matters in photography because the medium is not simply a tool for representing politics. Photography is itself part of the machinery through which cultural positions become visible. Consider the familiar photograph of the protest. It can document a political movement, but it can also become a symbol of the photographer's proximity to that movement. The photograph says something about the people marching, but it may also say something about the person who was there to photograph them, the publication that chose to publish the image and the audience that chose to share it. None of this invalidates the photograph. It asks us to look at its second subject. The first subject may be the protest. The second may be us. This becomes particularly complicated when the subject is Black suffering. Photography has a long history of making Black experience visible for audiences who were not required to share its consequences. Contemporary visual culture can reproduce a softer version of the same arrangement. Black pain becomes something to witness, respond to and circulate. The viewer can demonstrate their opposition to racism through their relationship to the image. The photograph becomes a place where moral identity is performed. This is why the language of visibility deserves suspicion, not rejection. We need visibility. Black photographers have spent generations confronting systems that rendered their work, communities and perspectives marginal or invisible. The question is not whether visibility matters. It is who visibility is working for. A Black photographer gaining recognition for work that challenges the conventions of the medium is not the same thing as a non-Black institution displaying its commitment to diversity. A photograph that gives a Black subject greater control over their representation is not equivalent to an image that makes an audience feel informed about Black experience. A platform can look diverse while its underlying distribution of power remains remarkably familiar. The image can change while the structure does not. This is where allyship needs to become less comfortable. Perhaps the most useful question is not whether you are being a good ally. That question still places you at the centre, asking you to evaluate your own performance against a standard. A harder question is: **what are you willing to change that nobody will see?** Who gets commissioned when nobody is keeping score? Who gets paid? Who gets introduced? Whose work gets defended when it is inconvenient? Whose expertise is trusted without requiring them to prove it twice? Who gets invited into the room before the photograph of the room is taken? These questions are less satisfying because they produce less evidence. There is no photograph of a door being opened for someone else. No image of a fee negotiated fairly. No carousel documenting the opportunity you gave away. No engagement metric for the decision not to centre yourself. Perhaps that is precisely why they matter. Photography has trained us to look for what can be shown. Social media has intensified the habit by rewarding what can be shown quickly, clearly and repeatedly. Allyship has entered that economy too, and it is tempting to believe that because solidarity is visible, it is therefore substantial. But an image can only tell us that an image was made. Everything else has to be found somewhere beyond the frame. The most meaningful act of allyship may therefore be the one that produces nothing to post afterwards. Not because nobody should see it, but because being seen was never the point. ### If I were a racist (Photographer’s Cut) URL: https://www.theblkgze.com/essays/if-i-were-a-racist-photographers-cut/ Last updated: 2026-09-04T16:12:23.000Z Dr Nathan Holder’s [If I Were a Racist](https://www.nateholdermusic.com/post/if-i-were-a-racist?ref=theblkgze.com), asks what racism looks like when it becomes ordinary: embedded in assumptions, institutions and habits rather than announced as hostility. This is a photographic response to that idea. It borrows Holder’s structure to ask what racism might look like when it is built into the ways photography teaches us to look, value, preserve and remember. If I were a racist, I'd teach children that photography is about Aperture, ISO and shutter speed. Everything else is politics. If I were a racist, I'd teach photography as a universal language, Then make sure only certain voices Were fluent. If I were a racist, I'd call photography neutral, Then decide What neutrality looks like. If I were a racist, I'd teach the Masters as though they appeared fully formed, Without asking Who named them. If I were a racist, I'd praise the canon, But never discuss How it was built. If I were a racist, I'd teach "African photography" As a category, And European photography as photography. If I were a racist, I'd celebrate one photographer from the continent, Then spend the rest of the semester Looking somewhere else. If I were a racist, I'd call work from Europe timeless, And work from everywhere else Cultural. If I were a racist, I'd describe photographs of white life As universal, And photographs of Black life as niche. If I were a racist, I'd say documentary photography tells the truth, Without asking Who was allowed to speak. If I were a racist, I'd teach photographs of empire, Without teaching How empire used photography. If I were a racist, I'd discuss archives as though they were neutral, Not collections of choices And exclusions. If I were a racist, I'd call it preservation When I saved my history, And ephemera when I saved yours. If I were a racist, I'd write the history of photography As though everyone else Arrived late. If I were a racist, I'd fund projects about Black communities, Provided the photographer Came from somewhere else. If I were a racist, I'd photograph struggle endlessly, Then wonder why That's all I could see. If I were a racist, I'd commission stories about resilience, As long as they remained Comfortably distant. If I were a racist, I'd invite photographers into the room, After deciding What the room was for. If I were a racist, I'd hire diverse talent, Then ask them to fit An existing vision. If I were a racist, I'd believe access meant invitation, Not participation, Ownership or influence. If I were a racist, I'd teach lighting for every skin tone, Then design every example Around one. If I were a racist, I'd teach composition as balance, Without asking Who gets centred. If I were a racist, I'd crop out context, Then call the image Objective. If I were a racist, I'd never revisit my syllabus, My collection, My assumptions. If I were a racist, I wouldn't need to exclude people. I'd simply teach generations What belonged. If I were a racist, The frame wouldn't look white. It would look Normal. The difficult thing about racism in photography is that it does not always look like exclusion. Sometimes it looks like a syllabus. Sometimes it looks like a collection, a commissioning decision, a gallery wall or a definition of what counts as universal. Sometimes it looks like good practice that nobody has thought to question. This is why changing who appears in the photograph is not enough. A photograph can become more diverse while the terms by which photography decides what matters remain intact. The frame is larger than the rectangle. It includes the histories that taught us what to notice, the institutions that decide what is worth keeping, the language we use to describe photographs and the assumptions we stop noticing because they have become familiar. That is what makes “normal” such a difficult word. It can describe what feels natural when, in fact, it is simply what we have encountered often enough to stop questioning. The frame doesn't have to look white to carry the history of whiteness. It only has to make one way of seeing feel normal. ### ### Proximity is not knowledge URL: https://www.theblkgze.com/foundation/proximity-is-not-knowledge/ Last updated: 2026-09-04T13:33:54.000Z Being close to someone is often treated as a kind of photographic qualification. Live in the neighbourhood, belong to the community, share the culture, know the language, photograph your own family, and the assumption follows that you must understand what you are looking at better than someone who does not. There is truth in this. Distance can produce a particular kind of blindness. An outsider can arrive with assumptions already attached to the people in front of the camera, mistaking familiarity with a stereotype for knowledge of a life. But another assumption can hide inside the argument for proximity: that being inside a world automatically gives you the right way of seeing it. It does not. Proximity changes the conditions of looking. It does not remove the responsibility to look. Zun Lee's *Father Figure* complicates the easy distinction between insider and outsider. Lee is Korean and grew up in Germany, but his relationship to the Black fathers he photographed was deeply personal. He had discovered that his biological father was African American, while his childhood had been shaped by African American military families. He began photographing Black fathers partly in response to the stereotype of Black fatherhood as absent or irresponsible, but also as a way of working through his own history. Over several years, he built relationships with families beyond the act of taking photographs, moving towards a more collaborative relationship between photographer and subject. What matters is not that Lee was close enough to finally see the truth. It is that the project shows how much work is required before closeness can become photographic knowledge. There is a difference between being present and paying attention. There is a difference between recognising someone's culture and knowing their particular life. There is a difference between sharing an identity and understanding an individual. Even intimacy has limits. Another person's interior life is not something proximity grants us access to. Photography becomes interesting here because the camera is so easily mistaken for a device of access. Get close enough and you will see. Spend enough time and you will understand. Photograph someone from within their community and the resulting images will somehow carry an authenticity unavailable to outsiders. But a photograph does not become truthful simply because the photographer is near. This matters when we talk about Black photography. The argument for Black photographers photographing Black lives is often made through representation, and rightly so. Who photographs whom can alter what is noticed, what becomes significant and which assumptions enter the frame. Black photographers have often recognised forms of Black life that an inherited photographic culture has overlooked. But if this becomes a simple hierarchy, where insider equals understanding and outsider equals ignorance, we reproduce another version of photography's old mistake: confusing position with knowledge. A Black photographer can still arrive with assumptions about another Black person. A family member can still misunderstand the person they photograph. A local photographer can still impose a story on a neighbour. Shared language, history or skin colour can change what a photographer recognises, but none guarantees that they will see another person clearly. None of this weakens the case for situated looking. It makes that case more demanding. The important question is not simply, "Who are you to photograph this?" It is also, "What has your position allowed you to notice, and what might it prevent you from seeing?" Experience is photographic knowledge, but it is not photographic omniscience. The same history that gives a photographer particular insight can also make certain things feel so familiar that they stop being examined. This is why relationship matters. Not because relationships guarantee truth, but because they introduce the possibility of being corrected. Lee's *Father Figure* makes this visible. His concern with how the fathers and families experienced the photographs points towards something more useful than a claim to authenticity. The photographer does not own the meaning of what is photographed simply because they have access to it. Being trusted with someone's life is not the same as possessing it. Perhaps this is one of the things photography has been reluctant to admit. Looking is never just a matter of where you stand. It is a relationship between position, experience, expectation, attention and another person's willingness to be seen. The camera records the encounter, but it cannot settle the terms of that encounter for us. This also changes what we should ask of photographs made by outsiders. The answer is not that outsiders should never photograph Black communities, nor that every photograph made from within a community is inherently more truthful. The more useful question is what kind of looking the photographer has brought with them, what they have learned, what they have assumed, and whether the people being photographed have any meaningful place in that process. A photograph made by someone who has travelled thousands of miles can misunderstand a life. A photograph made by someone who has lived beside it for decades can do the same. What separates them is not geography alone, but attention, relationship, humility and the willingness to discover that what seemed familiar was never fully known. Perhaps that is the more difficult promise of a Black gaze. Not that it gives us privileged access to Black life, but that it asks us to take seriously the conditions under which anyone comes to know another person. Even when we are close, there is still someone else in the frame. ## Foundation This essay is part of theBLKGZE's Foundation series, which explores the ideas that shape photography, visual culture and the Black gaze. [Explore Foundation essays](https://www.theblkgze.com/tag/foundation/) ### Who gets to decide who matters? URL: https://www.theblkgze.com/foundation/who-gets-to-decide-who-matters/ Last updated: 2026-09-04T13:29:40.000Z papers elevate public figures. Documentary photography often seeks people whose lives illuminate something larger than themselves. These traditions have their value, but they also establish a question that we rarely stop to examine: **Who gets to decide who matters?** History tends to answer that question from the outside. Family photographs answer it from within. Pete Rock and C.L. Smooth understood this in *T.R.O.Y. (They Reminisce Over You)*. C.L. Smooth remembers the people who formed the architecture of his life: Grandmom Pam, Uncle Doc, Uncle Sterling, Aunt Joyce. Their names may mean nothing to anyone outside the family. Their importance does not depend upon that recognition. The roles are enough. Almost every family has its own Grandmom Pam. Someone whose presence quietly establishes what care looks like. An aunt whose independence expands what seems possible. An uncle whose confidence becomes an example. A neighbour whose influence travels through generations without ever appearing in a newspaper. Their significance is not public. It is relational. This gives the family photograph a different understanding of what is worth preserving. A grandmother sitting in her favourite chair may have no obvious historical importance. Remove her from the family story, however, and the generations that follow become harder to understand. Her influence may never have reached beyond a handful of people, but those people were changed by it. That is a different scale of history. *Grandma Ruby and Me* eventually entered museums, photobooks and exhibitions. We can encounter it now as the work of an acclaimed photographer and discuss its place within photographic history. But its significance did not begin there. Before it became an artwork, it was a family photograph. Before an institution recognised it, the people within it already knew why it mattered. Photography did not create that importance. It arrived afterwards. This distinction becomes important because photographs are often treated as evidence. We look at Frazier's photograph and can see Grandma Ruby's face, her posture and the room around her. What we cannot see are the years of care, sacrifice, humour and reassurance that made her important to Frazier. Those things exist beyond the frame. The family knows this instinctively. A photograph can be technically unremarkable and still be irreplaceable. A blurred snapshot may become precious because it is the only surviving image of someone whose encouragement changed a person's life. An apparently insignificant photograph can acquire greater meaning with every passing year, particularly as the people who could explain it disappear. This is why the family album is more than a collection of photographs. It is a form of editing. Families decide which faces recur, which occasions deserve photographs and which people remain central to the story they tell about themselves. Birthdays, weddings, graduations, church services, Sunday dinners, first homes and family reunions become a record of what a family considers worth carrying forward. Long before museums curated photographic histories, families were doing the same thing. This matters particularly within the history of Black photography. Much of the public photographic record of Black life has been shaped by institutions interested in struggle, protest, inequality and political change. Those photographs are essential. They preserve histories that might otherwise have been erased. But they are not the whole story. Alongside the public record exists an enormous private archive of Black life made by families themselves. Its photographs preserve people who were not famous, moments that were not historically decisive and forms of life that did not need to justify themselves through a larger political narrative. The family album asks a different question. Not: **Who changed the world?** But: **Who changed us?** Those questions are not competing ways of deciding what matters. They are different ways of understanding significance. Photography becomes richer when we recognise both. There is something quietly radical about a photograph that does not require the person within it to represent anything larger than themselves. Grandma Ruby does not have to stand for Black motherhood, working-class America, family resilience or social history. She can simply be Grandma Ruby. Perhaps that is what family photography has always understood better than photographic institutions. Importance does not require an audience. A life does not become significant when history notices it. Sometimes its significance is established much earlier, around a dinner table, in a living room, through years of care, example and ordinary presence. The camera may preserve the face. The relationships explain why it mattered. ## Foundation The ideas that shape how theBLKGZE thinks about photography, visual culture and Black ways of seeing. [Explore Foundation essays](https://www.theblkgze.com/tag/foundation/) ### A photograph can outlive the person it photographs URL: https://www.theblkgze.com/foundation/the-afterlife-of-a-photograph/ Last updated: 2026-09-04T13:29:15.000Z At first, there is very little to see. A Washington Metro carriage. Blue seats beneath fluorescent lights. Passengers travelling across the city on America's 250th Independence Day. Nothing appears to demand our attention until we notice the faces. Almost every face is hidden. Masks repeat across the carriage, flattening individuality into a pattern. Only one face remains uncovered. A Black woman sits quietly among the anonymous figures surrounding her. The photograph does not tell us whether anyone spoke, whether anyone exchanged a glance, or what the journey meant to any of them. It records only that, for a fraction of a second, these people occupied the same space. Yet photographs have a peculiar way of acquiring lives of their own. Cheney Orr's image travelled quickly after it was published. Newspapers reproduced it. Television discussed it. Social media turned it into a shorthand for arguments about race, democracy and America's unfinished history. The camera had recorded a fraction of a second. The meanings attached to that fraction accumulated almost immediately. As the photograph travelled, its history began to grow. The image became evidence of a divided nation. It became a meditation on citizenship and belonging. Critics discussed its composition. Commentators explained what it revealed about America. Historians may eventually place it within the visual record of the United States in 2026. With every interpretation, the photograph acquired another layer of significance.But the person within it had a history too. Only afterwards did we learn her name: Bernita Bowlding. Her family did not need the photograph to discover who she was. They already knew her as a person with relationships, responsibilities, memories and an everyday life that existed long before the camera arrived. That distinction is easy to lose once a photograph becomes public. Millions of people can recognise Bowlding's face without knowing much about the person attached to it. Her face becomes familiar through circulation while her life remains largely outside the frame. The photograph gives the public access to her appearance. It does not necessarily give them access to her experience. This is one of photography's strange contradictions. It can preserve the appearance of someone with extraordinary precision while preserving very little of the life that appearance belonged to. The photograph itself is remarkably honest about its limitations. It records where people stood, how they were dressed and how light fell across the carriage. It cannot tell us what anyone was thinking. It cannot tell us what happened before the train arrived, what was said afterwards or what became of those passengers when the doors opened. The photograph gives us evidence, but not an entire history. Interpretation begins where the image falls silent. That silence is usually filled quickly. Critics interpret photographs. Newspapers contextualise them. Museums historicise them. Audiences attach their own experiences and arguments to them. What we ask less often is what the photograph might be taking away from the person we are looking at. The masks in Orr's photograph make this particularly visible. Almost everyone else in the carriage can disappear into anonymity. Their faces are concealed, so their participation in the photograph's afterlife is limited. Bowlding's uncovered face does the opposite. It makes her identifiable and therefore available to public interpretation. The photograph gives her visibility while withholding almost everything that would allow us to know her. There is no contradiction in saying that the photograph matters and that it does not tell us enough. The image may become an important document of a particular political moment. Orr's authorship and photographic choices deserve consideration. The photograph may acquire a significant place in the visual history of its time. But none of that makes the photograph's history the same thing as Bowlding's history. This matters because photographs are often treated as though the people within them become part of the image's story simply by appearing in it. They do not. A person can become central to a photograph's meaning while remaining absent from its history. The family album understands this differently. A photograph of a grandmother may be visually unremarkable to everyone outside the family and indispensable to everyone inside it. The image does not need to become famous because the person already has a history that gives the photograph its meaning. Public recognition and personal recognition are not the same thing. Perhaps that is photography's quieter ethical problem. We often speak about photographs as preserving memory, but what they preserve most reliably is appearance. Memory requires relationships, stories, names, context and people willing to carry those things forward. When a photograph becomes iconic, its history is almost guaranteed. The history of the person within it is not. That is why looking beyond the photograph matters. Not because the image is useless, and not because interpretation is wrong, but because the photograph's growing importance can create the illusion that we have come to know the person inside it. We have not. We have encountered an image of a life. The life itself continues elsewhere, carrying a history the photograph can neither contain nor tell us. ## Foundation This essay is part of theBLKGZE's Foundation series, which explores the ideas that shape photography, visual culture and the Black gaze. [Explore Foundation essays](https://www.theblkgze.com/tag/foundation/) ### The gaze begins before the photograph URL: https://www.theblkgze.com/foundation/the-gaze-begins-before-the-photograph/ Last updated: 2026-09-04T13:28:46.000Z Look at Ming Smith's photographs of Sun Ra and his Arkestra and it is difficult to know exactly where the photograph ends and the performance begins. Figures emerge and disappear. Movement becomes blur. Light seems to arrive from somewhere beyond the frame. The photographs document a musical world without behaving like straightforward records of it. That difficulty is useful. We often talk about a photographer's gaze as though it begins when the camera is raised. We see the photograph and then ask what the photographer saw. But by that point, many of the important decisions have already been made. The photographer has decided where to stand, what to wait for, what to ignore, what kind of encounter matters and what might be worth making into a photograph. The gaze begins before the photograph. Every photographer learns to see long before they develop a photographic voice. Not only through experience, but through the photographs placed in front of them. Photobooks, museums, magazines, competitions, university courses, workshops and social media all teach photographers what photography is supposed to look like. They teach us what makes an image powerful, what constitutes good composition, which moments matter and which stories appear worthy of attention. Most of this education is so familiar that we stop recognising it as education. A photographer learns the decisive moment, the compelling portrait, the dramatic light, the revealing gesture. They learn to recognise certain kinds of visual significance almost instinctively. What feels like personal taste can therefore contain generations of inherited judgement. Before discovering a photographic voice, we often acquire a photographic accent. This is where the idea of a universal photographic gaze begins to unravel. Photography's mechanics may be universal. Light behaves according to the same physical principles whether the photographer is working in London, Lagos or New York. But deciding to photograph a particular person, moment or place is not a physical act. It is cultural. It depends upon what the photographer has learned to recognise as meaningful. The camera does not decide what matters. People do. Yet photography has often treated the visual conventions produced by particular histories as though they were simply the natural language of the medium. A tradition shaped through European modernity, colonialism and the institutions that developed around photography became so dominant that its preferences could disappear into the category of photographic common sense. That is the power of a dominant gaze. It does not need to announce itself as a particular way of seeing. It only needs to become familiar enough that alternatives begin to look like departures. This matters when we think about the Black gaze. It is tempting to define the Black gaze through authorship: photographs made by Black photographers, or photographs made about Black people. But neither is sufficient. Black photographers can inherit and reproduce the same conventions as anyone else. The more interesting question is not simply who holds the camera, but what has taught the person holding it how to look. bell hooks' writing on the oppositional gaze is useful because it makes looking historical. Black spectators do not encounter visual culture from a neutral position. They bring histories, experiences and forms of knowledge to what they see. Looking is therefore not just seeing. It is interpretation shaped by where we have come from. Tina M. Campt takes the question further by asking what photographs might communicate beyond what is immediately visible. Her work encourages a form of attention capable of recognising quiet, ordinary and easily overlooked forms of Black life. The significance is not simply that different things enter the frame. The terms of photographic attention begin to change. If attention determines what becomes photographically significant, then every photographic tradition also contains its own blind spots. To learn what deserves attention is simultaneously to learn what does not. The history of photography can therefore be read not only through the images it has preserved, but through the lives and experiences it has repeatedly failed to recognise as worthy of sustained attention. This is why representation alone cannot resolve the problem. We can put Black people in the frame without changing the gaze that determines how they are seen. We can diversify photographers, subjects and institutions while leaving the underlying assumptions about photographic value intact. The image changes, but the grammar remains. The Black gaze becomes consequential when it unsettles that grammar. It does not simply ask photography to produce more positive pictures of Black life, or to replace images of suffering with images of joy. Both can become their own forms of expectation. Black life is not made fuller by swapping one narrow category for another. It becomes fuller when it is allowed to exceed the categories. Perhaps this is what makes Smith's photographs worth returning to. They do not seem particularly interested in giving us the kind of photographic certainty we have been trained to value. They ask us to stay with atmosphere, movement, relationship and feeling. They remind us that a photograph does not have to explain everything it encounters in order to know something about it. The Black gaze is not a style. It is not an aesthetic code. It is not the automatic consequence of a Black photographer holding a camera. It is a challenge to the idea that photography ever had one way of seeing. Once we understand that the gaze begins before the shutter, the question changes. It is no longer simply, *What am I looking at?* It becomes: *Why have I learned to recognise this as worth looking at?* That question reaches further than the photograph in front of us. It reaches into the images we study, the photographers we celebrate, the competitions we enter and the visual habits we pass on. Photography may be made with a camera. Seeing is learned long before one is raised. ## Foundation The ideas that shape how theBLKGZE thinks about photography, visual culture and Black ways of seeing. [Explore Foundation essays](https://www.theblkgze.com/tag/foundation/) ### Black life does not need to explain itself URL: https://www.theblkgze.com/foundation/black-life-does-not-need-to-explain-itself/ Last updated: 2026-09-04T13:41:52.000Z A photograph of Black life is often expected to tell us something. It might tell us about racism, inequality, resilience or resistance. It might challenge a stereotype. It might celebrate Black excellence. It might offer evidence of a community or illuminate a history that has been ignored. These are all legitimate reasons to make photographs. But somewhere along the way, explanation became an expectation. Black people appear in photographs and we immediately begin looking for what they represent. This is where the idea of the Black gaze becomes more interesting than the question of representation. Its purpose is not simply to produce better pictures of Black people. It asks whether Black people need to be made representative at all. A photograph of a Black person sitting alone can be a photograph of loneliness. It can also simply be a person sitting alone. A family laughing around a table can be a picture of Black joy. It can also simply be a family laughing around a table. The distinction sounds small. It is not. Photography has often been most comfortable with Black life when it can attach a meaning to it. Suffering becomes evidence. Protest becomes history. Achievement becomes inspiration. Resilience becomes a narrative. Even joy can become corrective, offered as proof that Black life is more than the images of hardship that preceded it. The categories may change, but the demand remains the same: the photograph must explain why this life matters. What if it does not? What if Black life does not need to arrive carrying a message for the viewer? This is part of what makes the ordinary so important to the Black gaze. Everyday life has often occupied a strange position within photographic culture. It can be considered too familiar to be newsworthy, too private to be documentary and too ordinary to be art. Yet ordinary life is where people spend most of their time. It is where relationships are formed, identities negotiated, ambitions imagined and memories accumulated. To photograph that life without requiring it to stand for something larger is not to make a less political photograph. It is to refuse a particular politics of recognition. bell hooks' work on the oppositional gaze helps us understand why looking is never neutral. The histories through which Black people have been represented also shape the ways Black people look back. Tina M. Campt's writing takes attention in another direction, towards forms of Black life that may not announce themselves through spectacle but nevertheless carry knowledge, feeling and possibility. Together, these ideas suggest that the question is not simply whether Black people are visible. It is what kind of visibility they are being offered. There is a difference between being seen and being allowed to remain particular. A photograph can make someone visible while simultaneously reducing them to a category. It can show a Black mother and ask us to see motherhood, Blackness, struggle and resilience before we have had the chance to see the person. It can photograph a young man and make him stand for masculinity, danger, aspiration or social inequality. The subject becomes an explanation. The Black gaze can interrupt that process by allowing the person to exceed the reason they were photographed. This does not mean that Black photographers automatically produce such images. Nor does it mean that non-Black photographers are incapable of making photographs that resist reduction. The Black gaze is not guaranteed by identity. It concerns the terms through which Black life is approached and understood. That is why fullness matters. Fullness does not mean that photography can somehow capture all of Black experience. No photograph can do that. Nor does it mean producing enough different kinds of positive representation to create a complete picture. Fullness means refusing reduction. Black life can contain struggle without being reducible to struggle. It can contain joy without becoming a photograph of joy. It can contain resilience, anger, tenderness, boredom, ambition, failure, humour, contradiction and countless experiences that do not need to be gathered into a single story. The photograph does not have to resolve them. This matters because photography has a tendency to reward the legible. A strong image often appears to be one that tells us quickly what we are seeing and why it matters. But some of the most interesting photographs resist that efficiency. They leave room for the subject to remain more complicated than the story we might attach to them. Perhaps that is what the Black gaze asks of photography. Not to photograph Black life differently simply for the sake of difference, but to stop assuming that Black life exists to make the photograph meaningful. The person comes first. The meaning can remain open. This is not a retreat from politics. It is a refusal to make politics the only language through which Black existence becomes visible. There are histories that need documenting, injustices that need exposing and struggles that need witnessing. But Black life does not begin when those things happen, and it does not become less significant when they are absent. There is something quietly radical about a photograph that allows Black people to be unexceptional. Not because their lives are unimportant, but because their importance does not depend upon proving anything to us. Blackness does not need to explain itself before it can be photographed. It only needs to be lived. ## Foundation The ideas that shape how theBLKGZE thinks about photography, visual culture and Black ways of seeing. [Explore Foundation essays](https://www.theblkgze.com/tag/foundation/) ### What if Black Britain was never where we thought? URL: https://www.theblkgze.com/essays/what-if-black-britain-was-never-where-we-thought/ Last updated: 2026-09-04T14:04:48.000Z Open [the Bumpkin Files archive](https://www.instagram.com/bumpkin.files?ref=theblkgze.com) and the first surprise may be how unsurprising the photographs look. Family gatherings. School portraits. Birthday parties. Children beside bicycles. Parents smiling in front gardens. Relatives gathered around tables. The photographs have the familiar texture of family albums, the kind of pictures made because someone thought the moment should be kept. And yet, taken together, they make something unfamiliar visible: a Black Britain that photography has not always taught us to see. For decades, the visual story of Black Britain has been closely associated with particular cities and neighbourhoods. Brixton, Handsworth, Tottenham, Moss Side. These places matter. Photographers such as Vanley Burke spent decades documenting communities that mainstream institutions often overlooked, creating important records of postwar Black British life. But when a small number of places become shorthand for an entire experience, something else happens. Geography begins to look like identity. We learn to recognise Black Britain through particular streets, estates and urban landscapes. The photograph of Black life starts to acquire a visual setting, and anything outside that setting becomes harder to recognise as part of the same story. Bumpkin Files, founded by Karis Beaumont, unsettles that assumption. Raised in Hertfordshire, Beaumont became aware that the Black communities she knew rarely appeared in wider cultural conversations. The archive looks beyond London and the places that have come to dominate representations of Black British experience, towards towns, villages and suburban communities. The significance is not simply that these places have been overlooked. It is that we have learned to look for Blackness in particular places. This is one of photography's quieter powers. It does not only preserve what happened. It helps establish what a place, a people or a culture is supposed to look like. Photograph the same kinds of streets, communities and events repeatedly, and eventually the photograph begins to feel like evidence of the whole. The problem is not that the image is false. Brixton is Black Britain. Handsworth is Black Britain. But neither is Black Britain in its entirety. A photograph can be accurate and still become misleading when it is asked to stand for more than it contains. This is why the ordinary photographs in Bumpkin Files matter. A family barbecue in a small town may seem insignificant beside a photograph of a protest in central London. A school portrait may appear to say little about the history of race in Britain. A child standing beside a bicycle does not announce migration, belonging or identity. But perhaps that is precisely the point. These photographs do not need to explain Black Britain. They simply show Black people living there. That distinction matters because Black communities are often made visible through moments that already carry an accepted meaning. Protest becomes evidence of resistance. Violence becomes evidence of racial inequality. Political events become evidence of historical change. The ordinary has to work harder because it arrives without an obvious narrative attached. Bumpkin Files reverses that hierarchy. It allows the accumulation of ordinary photographs to make the argument. One family photograph can feel anecdotal. Hundreds begin to alter the map. They reveal Black families not as temporary presences in places beyond the usual centres of Black British culture, but as people who have made homes, raised children, built communities and created memories there. The photographs do not need to announce that this is history. Their existence is enough to complicate the history we thought we knew. There is another important shift here. An archive is often imagined as a store of things that have already been recognised as significant. But family photography works differently. Someone takes a photograph because, to them, this person, this gathering, this house, this afternoon matters. The archive begins with a private decision about significance. Bumpkin Files extends that decision into public view. It takes the kinds of photographs that might otherwise remain inside family albums and allows them to accumulate into something larger. Not a replacement for the established visual history of Black Britain, but a challenge to its boundaries. This also makes the project more than a geographical correction. It asks what else photography has mistaken for the whole because it was easier to see. London has always had greater cultural visibility. Institutions, galleries, media organisations and creative networks have tended to cluster there. When those same structures commission, exhibit and circulate photographs, they can reinforce the places already visible to them. The camera follows attention. Attention follows infrastructure. Infrastructure follows familiarity. And so the same places keep appearing. Bumpkin Files interrupts that cycle by beginning somewhere else. Not with the institution, but with the family. Not with the exceptional event, but with ordinary life. Not with the places photography already knows how to recognise, but with the places it has learned to overlook. This is what makes the archive worth looking at. It does not tell us that the old photographs were wrong. It asks whether we mistook part of the picture for the picture itself. A country can be photographed accurately and still be misunderstood. Sometimes the problem is not what the photograph shows. It is everything we have stopped expecting to see. ### When visibility becomes a substitute for action URL: https://www.theblkgze.com/essays/blackout-tuesday-visibility-action/ Last updated: 2026-09-04T16:04:34.000Z IIn June 2020, millions of black squares appeared across Instagram. For 24 hours, feeds that normally promoted photography, fashion, travel, food and personal brands became declarations of solidarity with Black lives. The image spread rapidly because it was simple and immediately recognisable. It allowed people to communicate concern, grief, outrage or support through a single visual gesture. Yet as the squares multiplied, another question emerged: why did a black square feel like evidence that something had happened? The square did not document a protest, record an act of violence, identify a victim or show any of the conditions that had brought people into the streets. It showed only that someone had chosen to post a black square. Yet across millions of screens, the accumulation of those squares began to function as a kind of proof. They made participation visible. They turned an otherwise private position into a public image, and the image into something that could be counted, shared and seen. That distinction matters because photography has always had an uneasy relationship with action. We often treat the photograph as evidence that something happened, but the photograph only proves that a camera was there and that somebody chose to make, preserve or circulate an image. The difference is easy to overlook. An image can establish visibility without establishing consequence. Blackout Tuesday exposed that distinction unusually clearly. The black square was not really a photograph in the conventional sense, but it behaved like one. It occupied the same visual economy. It appeared in the feed, demanded attention, communicated a position and became part of a collective picture. Its meaning came partly from repetition: one black square could be dismissed as a gesture, millions could look like a movement. But movements are not made simply by becoming visible. This is one of the strange consequences of social media photography. We have become exceptionally good at displaying where we stand and less interested in asking what standing there requires. The photograph is perfectly suited to this because it compresses intention into an object that can circulate without carrying the work that intention might demand. A photograph can say, *I was here*, *I saw this*, *I care about this*, without telling us what happened before the shutter or what will happen afterwards. The problem is not dishonesty. That would be too easy an explanation. Someone can post an image sincerely and still mistake expression for intervention. The more troubling possibility is that sincerity itself has become enough to satisfy the demands of visibility. Consider the protest photograph. Images of demonstrations have long helped movements communicate their scale and urgency. They can expose violence, document presence and challenge official accounts. But once the photograph enters the media cycle, something else happens. The protest becomes an image of protest, and the image can begin to stand in for the political work that produced it. We have seen this repeatedly in the representation of Black protest. A photograph of people marching can become an emblem of resistance. A photograph of a confrontation with police can become evidence of injustice. These images can be indispensable, particularly when institutions dispute what happened. Yet the circulation of the photograph can also create a peculiar endpoint. Once the image has been published, shared and admired, the viewer has been given something to do with their attention. They have looked. They have reacted. They have perhaps reposted. The danger is that looking can begin to feel like participation. This is not a problem created by Instagram alone. Photography has always offered a way of encountering suffering without necessarily encountering responsibility. Susan Sontag's writing on the circulation of photographs of pain remains useful here, not because every photograph of suffering produces indifference, but because looking is never politically neutral simply because it feels emotionally powerful. The image can move us without moving anything else. For Black photographers, this contradiction is particularly difficult because visibility has never been an uncomplicated good. To be visible can mean recognition, authorship and the possibility of correcting an image imposed by others. It can also mean exposure, surveillance and the continued consumption of Black suffering as visual material. The history of photography is full of examples where Black bodies became available to the camera before Black people became equally able to control what the camera meant. Contemporary platforms have changed the technology without eliminating that imbalance. A Black photograph can now travel further and faster than ever, but circulation does not automatically transfer control. The image can still be detached from its maker, stripped of context and absorbed into somebody else's visual language. This makes the black square worth returning to. Its power came precisely from refusing the usual photographic demand to show something. It did not show a Black body in pain. It did not reproduce violence. It did not ask viewers to consume another image of suffering. There was something valuable in that refusal. But the square also revealed how quickly visibility can become its own reward. Posting became measurable. Profiles could be inspected. Silence could be noticed. The question of whether someone had posted became, for a moment, easier to answer than the more difficult questions of what they believed, what they were prepared to change, what they would risk, what they would fund or what they would continue doing once the feed returned to normal. The image provided closure where the politics did not. That is perhaps the deeper lesson for photography. We often talk about representation as though the central problem were who appears in the frame. But there is another question: what do we believe the frame has accomplished by making something visible? A photograph can reveal. It can also relieve. It can give a person the feeling of having witnessed something without requiring them to remain with it. It can allow an institution to demonstrate awareness without altering its practices. It can allow a publication to signal solidarity while leaving its commissioning structures untouched. It can allow a photographer to produce an eloquent image about inequality while remaining comfortably outside the relationships that reproduce it. None of this makes the photograph useless. Quite the opposite. It makes the photograph more consequential because we need to become more precise about what it actually does. Perhaps the problem with the black square was never that it was too little. In some circumstances, a small gesture is exactly that, a beginning. The problem came when the image was allowed to become the evidence of completion. The square eventually disappeared beneath everything else in the feed. That was its nature. It was designed to occupy attention briefly, become part of a collective image and then give way to the next thing. What remains interesting is not whether the people who posted it cared. It is what the gesture revealed about a culture in which care increasingly needs an image before it feels real. Photography has taught us to trust what we can see. Social media has taught us to show that we have seen it. Somewhere between those two habits, visibility acquired the appearance of action. And perhaps that is the question worth carrying forward whenever we encounter an image that tells us, very clearly, where someone stands: **what happened after the photograph?** ### A seat at the table is not the same as having a voice URL: https://www.theblkgze.com/essays/a-seat-at-the-table-is-not-enough/ Last updated: 2026-09-04T14:18:03.000Z Carrie Mae Weems stands behind a wooden table, both hands resting firmly on its surface. A hanging lamp casts a circle of light around her face while the rest of the room recedes into shadow. Behind her hangs a framed picture. To one side is a door. Nothing about the room looks powerful. Yet Weems is. She looks towards the viewer with a composure that suggests she is not waiting to be told what this space means, or whether she belongs in it. She occupies it on her own terms. The photograph carries an authority that has little to do with status and everything to do with position. This makes the familiar language of the "seat at the table" feel strangely inadequate. We use the phrase whenever conversations turn to representation, access and inclusion. The idea is straightforward: the room already exists, power already sits around the table, and progress means getting more people invited inside. But what if the problem is the table? Photography has spent much of its history deciding who gets to make images, who gets exhibited, who gets collected, who gets funded and whose work enters the canon. For Black photographers, gaining access to those structures has mattered enormously. Exclusion has material consequences. Without access to institutions, resources and audiences, photographers can struggle to sustain their work or have it recognised. But recognition is not the same as authority. An institution can display your photographs without changing how it understands them. A competition can reward your work without changing what it considers important. A museum can acquire your photographs while retaining control over how they are contextualised, interpreted and remembered. Being seen is not necessarily the same as being heard. Weems' work has repeatedly explored the spaces where identity and power are negotiated. Domestic interiors, kitchens, dining tables and living rooms become more than settings. They become places in which people perform, question and define themselves. In *The Kitchen Table Series*, the table becomes a stage for relationships, intimacy, solitude, motherhood, desire and self examination. It is an ordinary object carrying extraordinary weight. People gather around it, but they do not simply occupy the roles that the room assigns them. They negotiate who they are within it. That makes Weems' position behind the table especially suggestive. She is not pictured as someone waiting to be admitted. She is already an author of the space. This distinction matters beyond Weems. Photography often treats institutional recognition as the destination: the award, the exhibition, the collection, the review, the invitation. These things can matter greatly. But they can also encourage photographers to measure their success according to someone else's terms. The danger is subtle. Once recognition becomes the measure of value, the photographer can begin making work for the gaze that decides who gets recognised. The camera then changes direction. Instead of asking what the photographer wants to see, it starts asking what the institution wants to see. That is a problem because photography is never only about access to the frame. It is also about authority over the frame. Who decides what is worth photographing? Who decides what the photograph means? Who decides which photographs become evidence of a life, a community or a period in history? Who decides what belongs in the archive and what disappears? These are questions of power, and they cannot be answered simply by putting more Black photographers inside existing institutions. This is where refusal becomes more interesting than inclusion. To refuse does not necessarily mean turning away from institutions. It can mean refusing to let their recognition become the measure of your practice. It can mean making photographs that do not begin with the question of whether someone else will approve of them. That is not an argument against ambition. It is an argument for a different kind of ambition. The goal is not to become invisible to the institutions that have historically excluded you. The goal is to become less dependent on their permission to know that your work matters. Legacy begins here, long before a museum acquires the work or a historian writes about it. It begins with the decisions a photographer makes about what deserves attention, whose experience is worth preserving and which visual conventions are no longer adequate. Black photographers have expanded photography not simply by appearing within its existing history, but by changing what photography can see and know. They have photographed family, intimacy, beauty, protest, work, desire, memory and ordinary life in ways that have challenged the limits imposed by inherited ways of looking. That is authorship. Returning to Weems, the table no longer looks like a place where someone is waiting for an invitation. It looks like a place from which a different conversation might begin. Perhaps that is the question worth carrying into photography now. Not simply whether there is a seat for you at the table, but whether the table was ever designed to accommodate what you came to say. And if it was not, perhaps the more consequential act is not to keep waiting for a place. It is to decide what happens next. ### What does a photograph leave out of Jamaica? URL: https://www.theblkgze.com/essays/what-does-a-photograph-leave-out-of-jamaica/ Last updated: 2026-09-04T15:04:25.000Z “Wi likkle but wi tallawah” is a statement about scale. Jamaica may be small on a map, but its influence has travelled far beyond its shores, through music, language, fashion, spirituality, politics and the movement of its people. Photography has often struggled with that kind of scale. Jamaica can become surprisingly small inside a photograph. Violence becomes the country. Poverty becomes the place. Exoticism becomes the culture. A single image can be accurate and still reduce the world it describes. The question, then, is not simply whether a photograph represents Jamaica correctly. It is what the photograph allows us to imagine exists beyond the frame. Boogie's *A Wah Do Dem* offers a useful place to begin. In one photograph, a man lifts his shirt to reveal a handgun tucked into his waistband. His face is excluded. We see the weapon, his hands, his clothes, his belt. The gun becomes the organising fact of the image. ![](https://www.theblkgze.com/content/images/2026/09/Boogie---Wah-Do-Dem.webp) It is a photograph of something real. Jamaica has violence. But the photograph also demonstrates how quickly a real thing can become the thing. Once the gun becomes the subject, the man becomes secondary. His history, relationships, humour, ambitions, fears and ordinary routines disappear. The photograph does not have to be false to produce a narrow truth. It only has to make one part of a life carry the weight of the whole. This is one of photography's recurring problems. We often mistake what is most visible for what is most significant. Lúa Ribeira's *Noises in the Blood* moves somewhere else. Its Jamaica is not organised around violence but around bodies, performance, transformation and visual invention. In one photograph, a woman lies on a bed dressed in an elaborate black costume covered with jewellery, flowers and other ornamentation. A striking eye motif sits across her forehead. Beside her, another figure is almost completely hidden beneath white sheets. The domestic setting remains visible around them: bedding, rugs, furniture, the ordinary traces of a room. ![](https://www.theblkgze.com/content/images/2026/09/Noises-in-the-Blood-by-Lua-Ribeira-16_21.jpg) The photograph is visually overwhelming. It is theatrical, intimate and deliberately strange. The room becomes a stage, but it never stops being a room. That tension is important. The image does not simply document Jamaica. It constructs an encounter with it through performance and transformation. It asks us to look at what people can make of their bodies, their surroundings and the visual languages available to them. But it also raises a harder question. What happens when culture becomes most visible when it becomes most visually striking? The problem is not that performance is somehow less authentic than ordinary life. It may be one of the ways identity is expressed, negotiated and enjoyed. The problem is what happens when the viewer mistakes the spectacle for an explanation. The woman is not reducible to her costume. The concealed figure is not simply a visual device. The room contains a life that the photograph cannot give us. The image can be imaginative and still leave much unknown. Jamaica has not disappeared from the photograph. It has become one particular way of seeing Jamaica. Andrew Jackson's *From a Small Island* approaches the problem differently. His photographs move through memory, migration, belonging and inheritance, allowing Jamaican identity to extend beyond geography. One photograph shows an older Jamaican man standing outdoors, his head turned upwards and one hand raised in gesture. Behind him are trees, houses and the textures of an everyday neighbourhood. He appears to be speaking or responding to something beyond the frame. There is no obvious symbol to decode. The photograph does not ask us to solve Jamaica. It gives us a person. That difference matters. The raised hand seems to point beyond the photograph, towards a conversation, a memory or a relationship that began before the shutter was released. We cannot know exactly what is happening, and the photograph does not pretend that we can. Instead, it leaves room for a life beyond the frame. This may be the more useful way to understand “Wi likkle but wi tallawah”. Tallawah is not simply a claim about Jamaica's cultural influence. It challenges the assumption that physical scale determines significance. The island's importance cannot be contained by its geography, just as a person's life cannot be contained by the most legible thing about them. Photography has a tendency to compress. It takes a complicated life and produces a single frame. It takes a culture and produces a visual language. It takes a place and gives us an image that can begin to stand in for the place itself. That compression is part of the medium's power, but it is also where its limitations become visible. The issue is therefore not that photographers should avoid violence, performance or visual intensity. That would simply replace one narrow definition of Jamaica with another. Nor is it enough to photograph ordinary life as a corrective. The deeper question is whether the photograph leaves enough room for complexity to survive its own framing. This is where the person behind the camera matters. What has the photographer learned to notice? What do they recognise as significant? What assumptions enter the frame before the shutter is pressed? And what becomes difficult to see because the photograph has already decided what the viewer should look at? A Black gaze does not guarantee that everything will be seen. But it can change the terms on which looking takes place, bringing histories, relationships and forms of knowledge that an outside gaze may overlook. The strongest photographs of Jamaica may therefore be those that resist making the island completely explainable. A gun is part of Jamaica. A spectacular performance is part of Jamaica. An older man standing in his neighbourhood is part of Jamaica. None of them is Jamaica itself. “Wi likkle but wi tallawah” asks us to understand that scale is not measured only by what can be seen. Perhaps photography needs the same lesson. The frame may be small.The world beyond it is not. ### What happens when nothing happens? URL: https://www.theblkgze.com/essays/what-happens-when-nothing-happens/ Last updated: 2026-09-04T13:53:50.000Z A man stands beneath fluorescent lights in a New York subway station. His eyes are closed. One hand grips an electric guitar. A microphone hangs in front of his face. Behind him, a tiled mural depicts trees and open sky, turning part of the station wall into an imagined landscape. The photograph feels strangely calm. Nothing dramatic appears to be happening. There is no obvious climax, no gesture that changes the scene, no event demanding our attention. The musician is singing, but the photograph does not feel as though it has captured the peak of a performance. Instead, the camera seems to have entered something already underway. That is an unusual thing for photography to ask us to value. We have inherited a particular idea of what makes a photograph significant. The decisive moment, the instant when action, timing and composition align, has become one of the medium's most enduring ways of understanding itself. It makes sense for photographs of war, protest, sport or disaster. Something happens, the camera catches it, and the image becomes a record of the event. But most life does not happen like that. Most of life is repetition. Going to work. Meeting friends. Attending church. Raising children. Making music. Sitting with family. Walking through the same streets. Returning to the same places. These things rarely announce themselves as history, yet they are where relationships are formed, cultures are sustained and memories accumulate. Photography has often been better at recognising the event than the life surrounding it. This is where Roy DeCarava becomes important. His photographs of Harlem repeatedly return to musicians, families, children, neighbours and ordinary encounters. People wait, walk, listen, sit and occupy their surroundings. The photographs can appear quiet, particularly when measured against photography's appetite for action. But quiet does not mean empty. DeCarava understood that a life could be photographically significant without first becoming an event. His photographs do not need their subjects to be performing history for the camera. They ask us to look at presence itself: the atmosphere of a place, the relationship between people, the particular quality of a gesture or the feeling of simply being there. This is more than a choice of subject. It is a different idea of what photography is capable of knowing. When photography concentrates too heavily on events, it risks making ordinary life appear like background. History happens somewhere else, we are encouraged to think, while people wait in between its important moments. But a community is not sustained by its exceptional moments. It is sustained by repetition, ritual, familiarity and care. Black photographers have long made this visible. Their photographs of neighbourhoods, family gatherings, churches, clubs, streets and social spaces do not simply provide a more positive representation of Black life. They challenge the assumption that Black life becomes photographically important when something dramatic happens to it. That distinction matters. To say that photography should show more joy, beauty or ordinary life can easily become another demand for representation. Black people are then expected to appear resilient, celebratory or inspirational instead of suffering. The deeper challenge is not to replace one approved image with another. It is to loosen the idea that Black life needs to perform significance at all. The subway musician does not need to represent Black creativity. He does not need to symbolise community, resilience or urban culture. He is simply there, making music in a place built for people to pass through. The photograph's significance begins partly with the photographer deciding that this was worth stopping for. That decision is never neutral. Every photograph contains a judgement about attention. Something was noticed while other things were allowed to disappear. The camera does not merely record the world. It participates in deciding which parts of the world become visible enough to be remembered. This is why documenting the ordinary matters. It is not because ordinary photographs are somehow morally superior to dramatic ones. Nor is it because every quiet moment contains a hidden masterpiece. It is because what we repeatedly photograph teaches us what we believe is worth looking at. The family photograph understands this instinctively. A birthday, a graduation, a Sunday afternoon or a person sitting at the kitchen table can matter enormously without ever becoming historically significant. The photograph preserves something because someone decided that the life itself was worth remembering. That is a different measure of significance. Returning to the musician, the photograph cannot preserve the song. It cannot tell us who stopped to listen, what happened when the performance ended or whether the moment felt important to anyone else. It preserves something more modest: a person occupying a public space and making something within it. Photography does not have to turn that moment into an event. It can simply refuse to let it disappear. Perhaps this is one of the things Black photographers have expanded photography's ability to see. Not merely different subjects, but a different understanding of significance. A recognition that history is not only what happens in front of us, but what people do repeatedly, quietly and together while history is supposedly happening elsewhere. The question, then, is not whether something happened. It is whether we have learned to look only when it does. ### What does experience let you see? URL: https://www.theblkgze.com/essays/what-experience-lets-you-see/ Last updated: 2026-09-04T13:51:19.000Z There are photographs you understand before you can explain why. Something in them feels familiar. Not necessarily because you have seen the scene before, but because you recognise the way it has been seen. This is difficult to describe in photographic language. We are more comfortable talking about composition, exposure, timing and technique. We can point to what the photographer did with the camera. It is harder to talk about what the photographer brought to the camera: memory, experience, expectation, cultural knowledge, instinct. Yet these things matter. For Black photographers, especially, experience can change what becomes visible. A look between two people. The significance of a particular gesture. The difference between celebration and performance. The atmosphere of a room that an outsider might enter without understanding what has just happened. These are not technical skills, but neither are they simply feelings. They are forms of knowledge. This is one reason the idea of a neutral photographic gaze is so difficult to sustain. Every photographer learns to look somewhere, and every photographer learns what to overlook. LaToya Ruby Frazier's *The Notion of Family* makes this visible through the intimacy of its subject. Her photographs of her grandmother, mother and herself do not simply document a family. They emerge from a relationship in which history, memory and personal experience are already present before the camera appears. A photograph such as *Grandma Ruby and Me* carries information that cannot be reduced to what is visibly happening in the frame. The relationship between the people pictured is part of what gives the photograph its meaning. The camera records the image. It does not record everything the photographer knows about the moment. That distinction matters because lived experience is sometimes treated as if it were instinct, and instinct as if it were automatically correct. For Black photographers, there can be a temptation to describe this knowledge as something located in the gut, the heart or even the spirit. There is something useful in that language. It recognises forms of knowledge that photographic institutions have historically struggled to name. But we should be careful about turning intuition into another myth. Experience can sharpen attention, but it can also create assumptions. Familiarity can reveal things that distance conceals, but it can also make us stop looking. A photographer can know the culture and misunderstand the person. They can recognise the setting and miss what is happening inside it. They can photograph their own family and still bring a story to the frame that the person in front of the camera does not recognise as their own. Knowledge is not the same as certainty. This is where the Black gaze becomes more interesting than the idea of simply seeing ourselves represented by ourselves. The question is not whether Black photographers possess some innate ability to make more truthful photographs of Black life. The question is what their particular histories, relationships and ways of knowing allow them to notice. Ming Smith's photographs, for example, often resist the demand for photographic clarity. Her work can feel atmospheric, elusive and intuitive, asking us to attend to what a photograph communicates beyond a straightforward account of what happened. The image does not become powerful because it explains everything. Its power can come from what experience has taught the photographer to leave open. That is a different understanding of photographic knowledge. It does not depend on the camera revealing everything. It recognises that seeing can involve sensing what cannot be fully described. The family photograph offers another way into this. Long before Black photographers entered galleries and competitions, cameras were being used in homes to record birthdays, graduations, church services, holidays, funerals and ordinary afternoons. These photographs were not made to satisfy an editor or impress a jury. They were made because someone thought the moment mattered. The reasons for making the photograph were already a form of looking. A grandmother's portrait might matter because everyone in the family knows what she has meant to them. A photograph of friends outside a house might preserve a relationship that no archive would consider historically significant. The photograph does not need to explain its importance to an institution. Its meaning exists within a community of memory. This is why technical competence, while necessary, cannot be the whole measure of photographic knowledge. A perfectly exposed photograph can still reveal very little. An image that breaks conventional rules can sometimes tell us something that those rules would have prevented us from seeing. The point is not to reject technique for feeling. It is to recognise that technique operates within a larger practice of attention. Every photographer is taught where to place the frame. Fewer are taught to ask why they are placing it there. Experience can answer part of that question. Memory can answer part of it. Relationship can answer part of it. Culture can answer part of it. None provides the whole answer. That may be the more useful way to think about the "gut" in Black photography. Not as a mystical quality belonging to Black photographers, and not as an alternative to photographic knowledge, but as a reminder that knowledge does not only arrive through instruction. Some of it is carried into the frame through lives already lived. The photograph is therefore never just what the camera sees. It is also what the photographer has learned to notice. ### Books allies can read. Part Two, Photography and the power of the visual URL: https://www.theblkgze.com/books/books-allies-can-read-part-two/ Last updated: 2026-09-04T15:39:29.000Z Before you can change what photography shows, it helps to understand how photography has learned to look. In [Part One](https://www.theblkgze.com/books/books-allies-can-read-part-one/), we began with the person doing the looking. Race, history, power, identity and experience all shape the assumptions we bring to the world. Part Two turns that attention towards the camera. Photography is often treated as though it simply records what is there. But photographs are made within histories. They carry the assumptions of their makers, the institutions that commission and circulate them, the archives that preserve them and the audiences that interpret them. For Black people, this history is particularly consequential. Photography has been used to classify, control, exoticise and distort Black bodies, while Black photographers have continually challenged those ways of seeing and created others. The books in this list explore that tension. They ask who gets to look, who gets to be seen, what photographs can tell us, what they leave out and what happens when the terms of looking begin to change. ### 1\. Tina M. Campt - *A Black Gaze: Artists Changing How We See* **ISBN:** 978-0262546058 Campt examines contemporary Black artists who challenge conventional ways of seeing and asks what becomes possible when looking is approached differently. The book is useful because it moves the idea of the Black gaze beyond representation. It is not simply about putting Black people into the picture. It is about questioning the assumptions through which pictures are made and understood. For theBLKGZE, that distinction is fundamental. ![](https://www.theblkgze.com/content/images/2025/04/61RzEaC8nBL._SL1500_.jpg) ### 2\. *Dawoud Bey & Carrie Mae Weems: In Dialogue* **ISBN:** 978-1636810454 Bringing together the work of two photographers deeply engaged with Black life, memory, history and representation, this book offers a conversation between two distinct photographic practices. It is worth spending time with not simply for the photographs themselves, but for what they reveal about the possibilities of looking at people with attention, complexity and care. Different photographers can photograph related histories without producing the same understanding. ![](https://www.theblkgze.com/content/images/2025/04/71ssh8Pf3PL._SL1000_.jpg) ### 3\. *Dawoud Bey - On Photographing People and Communities* **ISBN:** 978-1597113373 Bey considers the practical and philosophical questions involved in photographing people and communities. The book is particularly useful for thinking about relationship. What happens between photographer and subject? What does it mean to photograph someone without reducing them to an idea? How does a photographer make space for another person's presence rather than simply using that presence to construct an image? These are photographic questions, but they are also questions of responsibility. ![](https://www.theblkgze.com/content/images/2025/04/61GzzO7W3HL._SL1200_.jpg) ### 4\. Mark Sealy - *Decolonising the Camera: Photography in Racial Time* **ISBN:** 978-1912064755 Sealy examines photography's relationship with colonialism, race and power, while considering how contemporary photographers challenge inherited visual structures. The importance of this book lies in its insistence that the camera has a history. Photography did not emerge outside politics. Its conventions were shaped alongside systems of classification, empire and racial hierarchy. To understand contemporary images, it helps to understand some of what came before them. ![](https://www.theblkgze.com/content/images/2025/04/61Ie5NgmFHL._SL1360_.jpg) ### 5\. Tina M. Campt - *Image Matters: Archive, Photography, and the African Diaspora in Europe* **ISBN:** 978-0822350743 Campt examines photographs of the African diaspora in European archives and considers how Black subjects appear within collections that were not necessarily created to centre their experiences. The book opens up questions about presence and absence. What does an archive preserve? What does it overlook? What happens when people begin to read photographs against the assumptions that originally placed them there? An archive is never simply a collection of photographs. It is also a history of what someone decided was worth keeping. ![](https://www.theblkgze.com/content/images/2025/04/61lxqunE5aL._SL1360_.jpg) ### 6\. Tina M. Campt - *Listening to Images* **ISBN:** 978-0822362708 Rather than focusing on what images show, Campt invites us to listen to what they *do*. Drawing on sound, movement, and affect, she radically reimagines how we engage with archival photography, particularly images of the Black diaspora. ![](https://www.theblkgze.com/content/images/2025/04/917-VIeDylL._SL1500_.jpg) ### 7\. *M*ark Sealy - Photography: Race, Rights and Representation **ISBN:** 978-1913546335 This collection considers photography's relationship with race, representation and justice, bringing together critical perspectives on the ways images have shaped racial narratives. It is useful for anyone wanting to understand photography as something more consequential than an aesthetic practice. Photographs participate in how people are understood. They can become evidence, shape public opinion and enter historical memory. What a photograph shows matters. So does what happens to it afterwards. ![](https://www.theblkgze.com/content/images/2025/04/517Von8O0JL._SL1000_.jpg) ### 8\. Amy sall - *The African Gaze: Photography, Cinema and Power* **ISBN:** 978-0500025390 Sall brings together African image makers and considers the gaze as a site of power, creativity and self determination across photography and cinema. The book expands the conversation beyond the familiar question of who is represented. It asks what happens when African artists establish their own visual languages rather than working within inherited ones. That shift from representation towards authorship is central to understanding why who is behind the camera matters. A book to look beyond photography ![](https://www.theblkgze.com/content/images/2025/04/61mCZJMuDDL._SL1200_.jpg) ### 9\. Koyo Kouoh *\- When We See Us: A Century of Black Figuration in Painting* **ISBN:** 978-0500025888 This book moves outside photography altogether, bringing together a century of Black figuration in painting. That distance is useful. Photography does not exist in isolation from other visual cultures. Looking at how Black artists have represented Black life through painting can loosen some of the expectations we place on photographs. It reminds us that Black visual culture has never depended on a single medium or a single way of seeing. Sometimes the best way to rethink photography is to look elsewhere. ![](https://www.theblkgze.com/content/images/2025/04/91Uq5n4FlDL._SL1500_-1.jpg) These books will not give you a correct way to look. That is not their purpose. They offer something more useful: reasons to question the authority we often give photographs, the histories behind the images we encounter, the assumptions carried by photographers and institutions, and the things an image might communicate that cannot be reduced to what is immediately visible. [Part One](https://www.theblkgze.com/books/books-allies-can-read-part-one/) asked you to examine what you bring to the world. Part Two asks you to examine what happens when those assumptions meet a camera. Who gets to look? Who gets to be seen? What becomes evidence? What gets remembered? What disappears? The more closely you look at photography, the harder it becomes to believe that seeing is simply seeing. Perhaps that is where looking begins to change. ### Books allies can read. Part One, examining how you look URL: https://www.theblkgze.com/books/books-allies-can-read-part-one/ Last updated: 2026-09-04T15:25:58.000Z Before thinking about how to photograph Black people, it is worth thinking about how you have learned to see them. That sounds obvious. It isn't. Photography does not begin with the camera. It begins with everything we have already learned about people, places, bodies, history and difference. Some of that knowledge comes from experience. Much of it comes from culture, education, media and the stories we inherit without necessarily noticing that we have inherited them. This is the first of a [two-part reading list](https://www.theblkgze.com/books/books-allies-can-read-part-two-photography-and-the-power-of-the-visual/) for allies. These books are not a syllabus for understanding Black people, and they will not give you a correct way to look. What they can do is make familiar ways of seeing less comfortable. They can help you examine ideas about race, power, history, identity and belonging before those ideas enter the frame. The second part turns specifically towards photography and visual culture. For now, the work is closer to home: **the person doing the looking**. ### 1\. Reni Eddo-Lodge - *Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race* **ISBN:** 978-1408870587 Eddo-Lodge examines race and racism in Britain through history, politics and lived experience, challenging the idea that racism can be understood simply through individual prejudice. For anyone photographing or writing about Black Britain, that distinction matters. A photographer does not enter a neutral world. History is already present in the places, people and subjects being photographed. This book is a useful starting point for understanding some of the structures that shape what we see before we ever raise a camera.. ![](https://www.theblkgze.com/content/images/2025/04/61hpBZPA0vL._SY466_.jpg) ### 2\. Layla F. Saad - *Me and White Supremacy* **ISBN:** 978-1728209807 Saad turns attention towards the individual and asks readers to examine how they participate in systems of racial inequality, often through behaviours that can feel ordinary or invisible. That makes this particularly useful preparation for thinking about photography. Looking is not something that happens independently of the person looking. Our assumptions, habits and positions influence what we notice and what we overlook. The uncomfortable question is not only what other people are doing. It is what you might be bringing with you. ![](https://www.theblkgze.com/content/images/2025/04/818nDFpFaRL._SL1500_.jpg) ### 3\. Ijeoma Oluo - *So You Want to Talk About Race* **ISBN:** 978-1580058827 Oluo offers a direct introduction to conversations around race, privilege, inequality and power, giving readers language for subjects that are often difficult to discuss. Language matters because what we cannot name can be difficult to examine. Photography often appears to communicate without words, but the meanings we attach to photographs are shaped by the ideas we already have. This book helps establish some of the vocabulary needed to question those ideas. ![](https://www.theblkgze.com/content/images/2025/04/71UKLMRON8L._SL1500_.jpg) ### 4\. Akala - *Natives: Race and Class in the Ruins of Empire* **ISBN:** 978-1473661233 Akala brings memoir, history, race and class together to examine Black British experience and the legacies of empire. It is particularly valuable for anyone whose understanding of Britain has been shaped by simplified accounts of race, migration and belonging. The book reminds us that identity is never produced in isolation. It is shaped by history, geography, class and the stories a society tells about itself. Those histories follow people into photographs too. ![](https://www.theblkgze.com/content/images/2025/04/71LMAZBMuUL._SL1500_.jpg) ### 5\. Ta-Nehisi Coates - *Between the World and Me* **ISBN:** 978-0812993547 Written as a letter to his son, Coates reflects on race, history, fear, beauty and the experience of living in a Black body in America. What makes the book useful here is its insistence on the difference between knowing about an experience and living it. A photographer can research a subject extensively and still encounter forms of knowledge that cannot be acquired from a distance. That does not make understanding impossible. It makes humility necessary. ![](https://www.theblkgze.com/content/images/2025/04/81pU-qKFZtL._SX342_.jpg) ### 8\. Audre Lorde - *Your Silence Will Not Protect You* **ISBN:** 978-0995716223 Lorde's essays, speeches and poems repeatedly challenge silence, complacency and the assumption that simply observing injustice is enough. For photographers, that raises a question about the difference between witnessing and participating. The camera can place someone close to an experience while still keeping them at a distance from its meaning. Lorde asks us to think about what we do with what we see. ![](https://www.theblkgze.com/content/images/2025/04/81fe8-bWCuL._SL1500_.jpg) ### 6\. Nova Reid - *The Good Ally* **ISBN:** 978-0008439521 Reid moves the conversation from awareness towards action, examining what meaningful allyship requires beyond good intentions. That distinction matters because photography is full of good intentions. A photographer can believe they are documenting, raising awareness or giving visibility while reproducing assumptions they have never examined. ![](https://www.theblkgze.com/content/images/2025/04/61IRcXYjNfL._SL1500_.jpg) These books will not tell you how to photograph Black people. There is no book that can do that, and perhaps there shouldn't be. Read them instead as an invitation to examine the person behind the camera. What have you been taught to notice? What have you been taught to overlook? Which histories feel familiar to you, and which have remained outside your field of vision? What assumptions do you carry into a room before you raise a camera? Those questions matter because photography does not begin with the shutter. By the time the camera appears, much of the looking has already happened. **Part One asks you to examine what you bring to the world. Part Two asks what happens when you bring those assumptions to photography.** Read slowly. Look again. **Next:** [Books allies can read: Part Two](https://www.theblkgze.com/books/books-allies-can-read-part-two-photography-and-the-power-of-the-visual/) *Photography and the Power of the Visual* ### What if photography rewards the wrong things? URL: https://www.theblkgze.com/essays/what-photography-rewards/ Last updated: 2026-09-04T13:49:18.000Z Look at the photographs that travel furthest. The ones that win competitions, fill exhibitions, circulate through newsrooms and appear again and again in our feeds. When Black people are at the centre of them, certain kinds of images seem particularly familiar: crisis, conflict, poverty, grief, violence, displacement. The photograph is dramatic. The subject is suffering. The image feels important. Then ask a different question: what had to happen before that photograph was considered worth seeing? This is where the problem becomes more interesting than representation. The issue is not simply that photography produces too many negative images of Black life. It is that photography has inherited ideas about what makes a life photographically significant, and those ideas continue to shape what gets noticed, commissioned, exhibited and rewarded. A photograph of a Black person in distress can be powerful. It can bear witness to something that should not be ignored. The problem begins when suffering becomes easier for photography to recognise than ordinary life. When crisis arrives already carrying the qualities that institutions have learned to call important, while intimacy, pleasure, style, family and routine have to work much harder to make themselves visible. This is one way the logic of the outsider gaze survives without requiring an explicitly prejudiced photographer. Orientalism, as Edward Said described it, was not simply a collection of inaccurate pictures of people elsewhere. It was a system for producing knowledge about an imagined other, making difference visible through particular assumptions about what that difference meant. Photography inherited some of that logic. Blackness could become spectacle, mystery, danger, poverty or suffering, something to be interpreted for an audience elsewhere. The photographer does not necessarily have to believe those things for the photograph to reproduce them. The surrounding system can do some of the work. Competitions and editorial institutions are particularly revealing because they do not merely display photographs. They decide which photographs deserve attention. A jury selects one image rather than another. An editor commissions one story rather than another. A publication gives space to one way of seeing. Over time, these decisions become a visual education. They teach photographers what seriousness looks like and audiences what significance looks like. The result is a strange feedback loop. Photographers learn what gets recognised. Institutions reward what they already recognise. Audiences become accustomed to seeing certain kinds of images as important. What falls outside that visual grammar becomes easier to overlook. Everyday Black life is particularly vulnerable to this process because it does not always announce its significance. Consider the photographs of Jamel Shabazz in 1980s Brooklyn. Their power is not dependent on catastrophe. Young people pose, flirt, dress up, laugh, move through their neighbourhoods and occupy public space. Kwame Brathwaite's photographs of Harlem likewise understood that style, beauty and self presentation could be more than decoration. They could be ways of seeing Black people differently from the images that had long been produced about them. Liz Johnson Artur's *Black Balloon Archive* extends that possibility across places and communities, accumulating the textures of Black life without reducing them to a single story. These photographs matter not because they provide a happier alternative to images of suffering, but because they disturb the assumption that suffering is what makes Black life photographically meaningful. That distinction matters. Asking for more joy in photography can easily become another demand placed on Black photographers: show us resilience, show us beauty, show us community. Replace one stereotype with another. But the point is not to substitute positive images for negative ones. It is to make room for lives that do not have to perform a particular meaning for the camera. A father braiding his daughter's hair does not need to symbolise the repair of a stereotype. Friends laughing outside a church do not need to represent resilience. Someone getting dressed, going to work, sitting in a bar, falling in love or doing nothing of consequence does not need to explain Blackness. The photograph can simply remain with the life. This is where the question of the gaze becomes unavoidable. Who is looking matters, but so does what the person looking has learned to recognise. A camera does not arrive without a history. Neither does a photographer. Both carry assumptions about what deserves attention. That is why changing who holds the camera matters, but it cannot be the whole argument. We also have to change what we think photography is for. If an image of a Black body in pain feels immediately significant, while an image of that same person living an unremarkable Tuesday feels somehow less important, the problem is not with the Tuesday. It is with the terms by which we have learned to look. Photography does not merely record what we consider important. It participates in deciding what importance looks like. Perhaps the most consequential challenge for Black photography is therefore not simply to produce different images of Black people, but to make the old hierarchy of photographic significance harder to sustain. To photograph what inherited vision has learned to overlook, and to insist that looking does not require spectacle before it becomes serious. The question is not whether Black suffering should be photographed. Of course it should. The more uncomfortable question is why suffering so often needs to be present before photography decides that Black life matters. ### Yanissa X URL: https://www.theblkgze.com/conversations/yanissa-x-q-and-a/ Last updated: 2026-07-10T02:31:05.000Z ## Series: Q&A Q&A is theBLKGZE's original interview series. Presented in a traditional question-and-answer format, these conversations explore the ideas, experiences and ways of seeing that shape photographic practice. > "The Black gaze is relatable, humanistic, empathetic, authentic, truthful, inclusive, defiant. It is important that we shape our identity and see ourselves beyond the outsiders’ limited beliefs. > False beliefs stemming from a bleak history. The Black gaze allows us to see each other in an understanding and dignifying light, claim our image back and reinvent ourselves." > > — Yanissa X ### How does the Black gaze relate to your photography practice? I’ve always been fascinated by visual arts. I’ve grown up surrounded by diverse forms of Black art and very curious about how we are represented and why. I often felt perplexed by the way we were portrayed in visual arts and media in general. This was a time before social media’s inception. The narrow and sometimes downright devaluing way we were shown inspired me to find different mediums to counter distorted and damaging images. I want to document Black life with an honest, respectful and honourable approach. Doing so has also been very therapeutic. ### What do you want to say or address with your photography? Although specific causes are dear to me, I seek to document people of colour, Black life in differing angles than most might be used to. Beyond the status quo. I want to encourage people to question their biases, perception, etc. I also just want all of us to simply enjoy how beautiful and diverse we are. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/396a6b10-cf1e-44d2-9cd4-e8c21d516927/Yanissa-X-2-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What influences and inspires you? How is this reflected in your work? I find inspiration in everyday life, my upbringing, my roots, the many different cultures within the worldwide Black community, everything. ### Who are your favourite Black photographers from the past? Why? Chi Modu and Jamel Shabazz: I have a deep appreciation for their raw documentation of Hip-Hop culture and Black American life in general. Carrie Mae Weems: The messages she shares through her photography are so vital. Especially as a Black woman photographer. You might not recognise her name but you’ll definitely recognise her photographs. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/3f0854dd-8d53-4648-bd01-3a2ee3677bc7/Yanissa-X-3-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### Please describe the highs and lows of your experience as a Black photographer? I’d describe collaborations with fellow Black creatives as a high. Nothing makes me happier than us being able to come together to make dreams tangible. I also appreciate the love and support found within the Black photography community, helping and uplifting one another. A low would be the tokenism I sometimes experience. My presence has come across as unexpected or shocking in certain spaces. Glad to be the disruptor! ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/38388e4e-3205-4f26-9751-12333c1b55de/Yanissa-X-4-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What work are you producing and what more would you like to do? I’ve got some exciting things coming up, stay on the lookout! I’m currently working on creative personal projects I can’t wait to share. I just want to keep creating powerful and wholesome imagery for us. ### Models The models featured in Yanissa’s images are Anaïs Joly Damphousse (Image 1), Kayla Kasl Vision (image 2) and Kamissa (images 3 and 4). ### Connect with Yanissa [Website](https://www.yanissax.com/?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/Yanissa%5Fx?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Twitter](https://www.theblkgaze.com/www.twitter.com/yanissa%5Fx?ref=theblkgze.com) ### Henry Danner URL: https://www.theblkgze.com/conversations/henry-danner-q-and-a/ Last updated: 2026-07-10T02:07:26.000Z ## Series: Q&A Q&A is theBLKGZE's original interview series. Presented in a traditional question-and-answer format, these conversations explore the ideas, experiences and ways of seeing that shape photographic practice. > "The Black gaze to me, means Black visual artists having the ability and ample opportunities to tell our own stories without the fear of not meeting the expectations of non-Black people." > > \- Henry Danner ### How does the Black gaze relate to your photography practice? This relates to my practice because I mostly make photographs in Black spaces and communities with the hopes of capturing authentic and honest moments that reflect the beauty of our existence. ### What do you want to say or address with your photography? I want my photos to be a part of the healing process for individuals and communities affected by trauma and injustices. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/2b5a624d-753a-46c0-ac94-7eb96aa05f57/Henry-Danner-2-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What influences and inspires you? How is this reflected in your work? History is my biggest inspiration. Looking to the past for clues on how to move forward and forge new paths is a huge part of my process. I do this by looking through old photobooks, reading a conducting research on historical events and listening to elders share their stories. This is reflected in my work because I try to tap into the same themes of resilience, identity and liberation that key Black historical figures evoked with their actions. ### Who are your favourite Black photographers from the past? Why? Gordon Parks, Roy DeCarava, James Van Der Zee, Carrie Mae Weems, Don Hogan Charles, and many more. These photographers all captured honest perspectives of Black existence and were trailblazers, often being the first Black photographers to do various things in the industry. I think they all, in their own ways, exposed the world to the beauty of Black people. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/2ab6674e-8a71-4244-93c5-139aba7f1bdd/Henry-Danner-3-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### Please describe the highs and lows of your experience as a Black photographer? One of the best things about being a Black photographer is receiving and giving inspiration to use photography as a way to take control of our own narratives. I love being able to help people from my community develop a more positive relationship with photography. One of the struggles is the guilt that is placed on you by the media at-large for only wanting to photograph Black people in a subjective manner. It is impossible for me to maintain an objectivity and distance from my subjects because I see bits and pieces of my identity in every Black person that I photograph. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/087eeeac-d9a3-4ccc-9835-107ead3e407a/Henry-Danner-4-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What work are you producing and what more would you like to do? I am in a graduate program for Journalism so I have mostly been producing work for class assignments. In the new year, I would really like to produce 3-4 personal documentary photo projects. ### Connect with Henry [Website](https://www.henrydanner.com/?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/henrydanner.photo?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Twitter](https://www.twitter.com/henrydanner%5F?ref=theblkgze.com) ### Jeff Boxill URL: https://www.theblkgze.com/conversations/jeff-boxill-q-and-a/ Last updated: 2026-07-10T02:08:15.000Z ## Series: Q&A Q&A is theBLKGZE's original interview series. Presented in a traditional question-and-answer format, these conversations explore the ideas, experiences and ways of seeing that shape photographic practice. > "The Black gaze is about the experiences that exist within each and every single one us. There are stories at every single corner. And it’s those stories that allows us to have a voice; especially when so many people are voiceless, and don’t get to share those experiences. > > It’s about showing other people that we’re here. And that we’re talented, creative, and fearless individuals that deserve to be heard. It’s about challenging and changing perceptions that centre around the ‘White gaze’ and allows us to exist in the same spaces we’re told we can’t be in." > > \- Jeff Boxill ### How does the Black gaze relate to your photography practice? I’m not quite sure yet. I think right now for me, it’s just about doing the work, and figuring out what it all means later. ### What do you want to say or address with your photography? I think this goes back to the previous question. I just want to do the work, and figure it all out later. I have an entire lifetime to figure it all out. I don’t necessarily feel like I need to explain my photographs. I honestly don’t even like explaining my pictures. I believe if I do work, the photography should speak for itself. And in doing so, express my sensibilities. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/49d3460e-def4-415a-a54e-2c68dc223fa9/Jeff-Boxhill-2-TheBlkGze-QA.jpeg) ### What influences and inspires you? How is this reflected in your work? I’m not someone who wakes up in the morning inspired. I like going outside and just opening my eyes, and allowing that to take me where I need to be. Every day existing is what gets me going. Just simple things that we might take for granted on a day to day basis. Going on walks, watching movies, drinking my favourite tea, going out to photograph, and talking to my favourite people. That’s where my inspiration comes from. ### Who are your favourite Black photographers from the past? Why? Roy DeCarava is an all time favourite of mine. He was master of his craft; and not just in making the picture, but in printing as well. I learned a lot from looking at how he photographed. And how he just captured every day Black life, in an insightful way. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/9d29f3b4-c7b7-4be4-9179-5af2caeeb879/Jeff-Boxhill-3-TheBlkGze-QA.jpeg) ### Please describe the highs and lows of your experience as a Black photographer? I mean it’s tough out here. Again, trying to exist in “White spaces” is very challenging. I want my work to get noticed, but again, opportunity is not in abundance for people like me. Mix that in with social media, and I understand that I have to work extra hard to get noticed. I love photography, and I’m going to do it whether or not I get the opportunities I want. Again, just going outside and opening my eyes, is what makes it all worth it. There’s so much nuance out there, and I get to see it all, and feel it too. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/02629399-0a73-4c94-8e8f-907a6cffbb5b/Jeff-Boxhill-4-TheBlkGze-QA.jpeg) ### What work are you producing and what more would you like to do? Seeing and feeling. ### Connect [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/Jeffboxill?ref=theblkgze.com) ### Brandon J. St. Jean URL: https://www.theblkgze.com/conversations/brandon-j-st-jean-q-and-a/ Last updated: 2026-07-10T02:09:02.000Z ## Series: Q&A Q&A is theBLKGZE's original interview series. Presented in a traditional question-and-answer format, these conversations explore the ideas, experiences and ways of seeing that shape photographic practice. > "The Black gaze shows the importance and perspective of art and influence through Black individuals. It’s unapologetic in staying true to how our culture views and interprets ourselves." > > \- Brandon J. St. Jean ### How does the Black gaze relate to your photography practice? This relates to my photography practice by showing the raw and creative side of us. I think it’s important to not only show the strong and creative side of us, but also the fun and unexpected side as well. A good balance. ### What do you want to say or address with your photography? What I aim to say with my photography is that we are a very diverse culture and I want to show more sides of that than the typical things people expect. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/4cb1e307-1b9b-413e-97af-eaa8c0ace3a6/Brandon-St-Jean-1-TheBlkGze-QA.jpeg) ### What influences and inspires you? How is this reflected in your work? Music and movies are a heavy inspiration for me. I grew up with both and I usually try to tie them in with my portraits and editorials. Magazines were also a big inspiration for my style, I used to flip through them when I was younger and admire the imagery. I pull a lot of inspiration from the past century regarding style and the things mentioned above. ### Who are your favourite Black photographers from the past? Why? My favourite Black photographers from the past as of right now are Chi Modu and Louis Mendes. Chi Modu is iconic (R.I.P). When I discovered he was the photographer behind some of the most iconic hip hop images of all time it blew my mind. I loved his techniques. Louis Mendes is an old school photographer that still hangs around in Manhattan near B&H. You can probably still catch him there till this day. When I first started out in photography, I would walk the streets taking street photos. I came across Louis and he was standing there with his giant polaroid camera. I was shocked that someone still used those till this day as everything was going digital. It inspired me to know that no matter the age, you still can do what you love. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/225c89ba-ebaa-48d6-80b4-8d7ff5201f25/Brandon-St-Jean-3-TheBlkGze-QA.jpeg) ### Please describe the highs and lows of your experience as a Black photographer? The highs that I have gained being a Black photographer is seeing the support and love from fellow Black photographers and artist. It’s embracing and I try to give back as much as I can. Shining a light on other Black artists is also a plus. The lows that I have experienced were seeing the hurdles of getting where I want to go with my art. I did not believe it was that difficult until I was in that position of trying to achieve a goal but having to do extra just to get there. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/3ca50ef1-6793-4b79-86c2-92ac76183b12/Brandon-St-Jean-4-TheBlkGze-QA.jpeg) ### What work are you producing and what more would you like to do? Although I do a lot of portraits, my main love is doing editorials. I love the creative process of editorials and being able to work with a team to create a scene and story. I would like to do more editorials on a bigger scale and even have some in magazines and billboards. ### Connect with Brandon [Website](https://www.brandonjstjean.com/?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Twitter](https://www.twitter.com/brandonjstjean?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/brandonjstjean?ref=theblkgze.com) ### Ebuka Mordi URL: https://www.theblkgze.com/conversations/ebuka-mordi-q-and-a/ Last updated: 2026-07-10T02:02:40.000Z ## Series: Q&A Q&A is theBLKGZE's original interview series. Presented in a traditional question-and-answer format, these conversations explore the ideas, experiences and ways of seeing that shape photographic practice. > "It’s amazing how Black creatives can be interviewed and their process documented, it inspires." > > — Ebuka Mordi ### How does the Black gaze relate to your photography practice? It inspires. ### What do you want to say or address with your photography? I want to uplift the name of Nigeria to the world and regain it’s reputation. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/12976cf7-68c2-440f-8ad4-279d70d21268/Ebuka-Mordi-2-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What influences and inspires you? How is this reflected in your work? The world inspires. ### Who are your favourite Black photographers from the past? Why? Misan Harriman. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/4d5b6b59-55c3-4225-ae14-1926edc4e594/Ebuka-Mordi-3-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### Please describe the highs and lows of your experience as a Black photographer? As a Nigerian living in a community that does not appreciate this form of art it is hard to be constantly inspired to create. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/9efb9075-52da-46fc-9ea9-485d5a0990e8/Ebuka-Mordi-4-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What work are you producing and what more would you like to do? I’m currently building a portfolio on fashion photography. I would love to shoot for magazines. ### Connect with Ebuka [Website](https://ebukamordi.com/?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Twitter](https://www.twitter.com/ebuka%5Fmordi?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/ebuka%5Fmordi?ref=theblkgze.com) ### Magno Daniel URL: https://www.theblkgze.com/conversations/magno-daniel-q-and-a/ Last updated: 2026-07-10T02:10:02.000Z ## Series: Q&A Q&A is theBLKGZE's original interview series. Presented in a traditional question-and-answer format, these conversations explore the ideas, experiences and ways of seeing that shape photographic practice. > "This question has come to me a few times, in many different contexts and places in the world and each time my answer is the same, the Black gaze, is the perception of ourselves and that also answers why it matters." > > — Magno Daniel ### How does the Black gaze relate to your photography practice? In the first question I might have answered this question as well, photography practice as so many others that are related to understanding ones surroundings play an incredible role in providing a mean, even if so particular to some, but that represents various other forms of ourselves and understanding the various other forms of self. ### What do you want to say or address with your photography? Memories. I might have not yet come into fully understanding all the specifics of my photography however, I am moved towards memories, some would eventually not relate to my peers. Memories carries us, the waking up, a voice in the sea, a book on the table, a smile from a relative. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/c4817296-9679-4bd9-b5a4-60941cbf4862/Magno-Daniel-2-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What influences and inspires you? How is this reflected in your work? Influence comes mostly from books, more recently writing has played an important role in shaping my views of photographs mostly due to the fact that I dive into thoughts that have never been recorded in any way, some completely true some more of storytelling. Music has also its contribution in bringing memories alive and guide me to the sounds of familiar places and feelings. All around, my surroundings inspire me – absorbing some of that reflects the tempo of my work, memories and some sort of storytelling. I could add the African photographers I recently found out about, perhaps in the last three years understanding how some of them captured and eternalized their own people, whether as a reflection of more documentary outlets but also, from pure enjoyment of their surrounding and the life it reflected has contributed into looking and photographing more within the people. ### Who are your favourite Black photographers from the past? Why? Satu Mofokeng, Gordon Parks, Ming Smith and Malick Sidibé. From all of them out of the some aspects that differentiate their practice as photographers their sensibility combined with the sense of composition amaze me. Their work are truly learning experience. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/53a92d16-59cb-40f0-be07-b9d66b54b436/Magno-Daniel-3-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### Please describe the highs and lows of your experience as a Black photographer? The highest of this experience is being able to make the Black diverse. As for the lows, that is an answer that could take a few days to discuss: opportunities, values, access… the list is long, however, being able to be alive and still producing some memories of ourselves brings peace. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/889404c9-57bc-49b6-9641-bdf43eae7ac5/Magno-Daniel-4-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What work are you producing and what more would you like to do? One of my currently projects revolves around the city of Luanda, where I was born and raised. In addition to that, working on some still life mini projects with human figures like sculptures produced by a friend of mine Gretty Lisboa, and drafting a short film. ### Connect with Magno [Website](https://www.magnodaniel.com/?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/%5Fmdaniel?ref=theblkgze.com) ### Zaria Love URL: https://www.theblkgze.com/conversations/zaria-love-q-and-a/ Last updated: 2026-07-10T02:12:41.000Z ## Series: Q&A Q&A is theBLKGZE's original interview series. Presented in a traditional question-and-answer format, these conversations explore the ideas, experiences and ways of seeing that shape photographic practice. > "The Black gaze means an admiration of everything Black. Admiration that is not only external but also internal. Internally in regards to politics, culture, emotions, and mental illness. Overall, the Black Experience." > > — Zaria Love ### How does the Black gaze relate to your photography practice? This relates to my photography practice because a majority of my images are focused on Blackness and the emotions that comes a long with being Black. ### What do you want to say or address with your photography? Unadulteratedly Black. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/cf7298d6-c1de-4362-ab9a-9d39d5af2ec9/Zaria-Love-2-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What influences and inspires you? How is this reflected in your work? Watching Hip-Hop/R&B music videos inspires how I capture people. For example, I love taking images of people and their many emotions and dramatics. I love to give my photography a cinematic vibe. ### Who are your favourite Black photographers from the past? Why? Gordon Parks is one of my favourite Black photographers from the past because he captured Black people in different environments from images based in New York to photos in Alabama. Most importantly, there was story behind his photography. For example, The Fontenelle Family (1967), by Gordon Parks, captures the a single mother with her children living in poverty. The images are pure realism. For more information on The Fontenelle Family (1967) click [here](https://www.gordonparksfoundation.org/gordon-parks/photography-archive/the-fontenelle-family-1967/installations?ref=theblkgze.com). ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/827d8198-38c8-4ee3-b74b-ce42274d4e44/Zaria-Love-3-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### Please describe the highs and lows of your experience as a Black photographer? The highs are just being able to take photos. The low is finding a method to still shoot while being disabled. At times I find myself saying “how” because being a Black disabled photographer is such a challenge. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/e657d912-8bb4-4e5f-932f-0adac9a843f4/Zaria-Love-4-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What work are you producing and what more would you like to do? Currently the project that I have in mind is capturing Black women’s nudity. Black women are beyond beautiful and I would love to capture them in their natural state. ### Connect with Zaria [Website](https://www.zarialovephotography.com/7802565-gallery?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/zaria.love%5F?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Twitter](https://www.twitter.com/zarialove92?ref=theblkgze.com) ### Vanessa Charlot URL: https://www.theblkgze.com/all/vanessa-charlot/ Last updated: 2025-04-18T17:30:49.000Z "To me, the ‘Black gaze’ is about shifting the visual power and narrative to, and through, the lens of Blackness. Having that awareness means working with the understanding that experiencing life in Black bodies, environments, forms and aesthetics is varied and complex, where the ‘white gaze’ may be, and often is, immaterial and irrelevant. Working with this framework centers Black bodies without the need to confront or position other voices, perspectives or thoughts." — Vanessa Charlot ### How does the Black gaze relate to your photography practice? Centering Blackness is one of the core values that guide my work. Through my photography, I produce visual representations free of an oppressive gaze, which often means eradicating the ‘white gaze’ by deliberately centering, and working through, the ‘black gaze’. Black bodies, spaces, forms, and aesthetics take up space in my photographs. The fact that much of my work is documentary work also allows me to engage with the stories in the images I create and restore the dignity and vitality of those often shot as subjects, divorced from context, motives, and histories. ### What do you want to say or address with your photography? I want my work to make the audience think deeply about the stories and histories they hold to be true when they see Black bodies as static images and in motion. I want to create work that stimulates widespread and far-reaching conversations that are both enlightening, and uncomfortable, helping us all to reimagine our worlds as ones where all people, from all communities, experience equal justice, increasing prosperity, and equity. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/a63b062e-4a31-4439-9b6f-ede3591101fe/Vanessa-Charlot-2-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What influences and inspires you? How is this reflected in your work? Literature inspires a lot of my photography. Some of the authors that inspire me the most are Toni Morrison, James Baldwin, Chinua Achebe and Wole Soyinka. What I love about these authors is how they explore the depth and breadth of the Black experience through universal themes that everyone can relate to. These themes, like love, pain, rage, joy and death are all ideas I explore in my work. Marrying literature and photography is my way of translating and documenting our experiences, hopefully with as much richness, beauty, and nuance as some of my favourite literary works. ### Who are your favourite Black photographers from the past? Why? There are many Black photographers whose work I adore. One of them is Jeanne Moutousammy-Ashe and the body of work she created on Dafuskie Island. In many ways, this work stands in a category of its own. I love how gentle her lens was in capturing the images. I found her ability to speak to, and demonstrate the heart of this private community, in an unobtrusive way, indicative of the grace and beauty that came through her visual commentary on Black rural life. Another photographer I love is CW Griffin. I love his attention to detail. I love how he applies his focus and attention to light and shadows in the environment to accentuate Black beauty in places where associating beauty and Blackness is stereotypically absent, places like Haiti and many small towns across the American South. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/1402c0e3-cee6-48f4-b870-4678f9b2220f/Vanessa-Charlot-3-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### Please describe the highs and lows of your experience as a Black photographer? The images that I made last year, covering the protests that ensued in St. Louis, Missouri in reaction to George Floyd’s murder, garnered national and international attention. I have used a lot of the opportunities that flowed to me, as a result of this work, to amplify Black voices and provide a critical analysis of the realities that shape and influence the lived experiences of those in racialized bodies in 21st century America. I am still in awe of how well received my work has been to the mainstream. That said, one of my favourite highs remains expressing righteous rage through photographs. Almost nothing compares in terms of satisfaction. One of the lows was repeatedly witnessing police brutality first-hand while covering the protests. Though some parts of this job never get easy, highs far outweigh the lows. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/098f23cd-48a8-4e12-b2b3-27b6f9455f87/Vanessa-Charlot-4-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What work are you producing and what more would you like to do? These days, I am exploring and creating more conceptual photography. I recently began producing a series of images that seeks to unmask and reveal our notions and imaginings around modern masculinity through the Black male form. I’m excited to continue working on expanding this series. In 2020, I witnessed many people protesting in the streets despite an ongoing and worsening global pandemic. In response, I find myself increasingly pulled to creating visual representations tied to, and expressing, our inner worlds. I began moving in this direction with my series, “Black Woman’s Shadow” and look forward to creating more work that unmasks and reveals more aspects of ourselves, as Black people, that others often don’t see. --- ## About Vanessa Vanessa Charlot is an award-winning photojournalist/ documentary photographer, filmmaker, lecturer and curator. Her work focuses on the intersectionality of race, spirituality, economics and sexual/gender expression. She shoots primarily in black and white to disrupt compositional hierarchy and explore the immutability of the collective human experience. The purpose of her work is to produce visual representations free of an oppressive gaze. Vanessa seeks to humanize Black bodies through her photography, restoring the dignity and vitality of those often shot as subjects divorced from context, motives, and histories. Her work invites us all to question our relationship to what we think about when we see Black bodies as static images and in motion. ### Connect with Vanessa [Website](https://www.vanessacharlot.com/?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/vanessa.charlot?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Twitter](https://www.twitter.com/vanessacharlot%5F?ref=theblkgze.com) --- ## Add your voice [![CTA Image](https://cdn.mymidnight.blog/995665640dc319973d3173a74a03860c/2025/04/shaunconnellmumjpeg.jpeg)](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) Through **The Black Gaze*, we don’t just reflect the world, we reshape it. Your story matters. Share it. Honour it. Hold space for others. This is where truth lives and vision leads. We invite Black photographers to contribute in two meaningful ways through story and image. [Get started ](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) ### Bria Woods URL: https://www.theblkgze.com/q-and-a/bria-woods/ Last updated: 2025-04-18T17:29:43.000Z "The Black gaze is home. It’s not foreign, it doesn’t trigger my need to survive and determine whether I’m safe, much like the White gaze does. The Black gaze is not trying to ask if I’m good enough or if I fit a certain mould. The Black gaze appreciates me for who I am." \- Bria Woods ### How does the Black gaze relate to your photography practice? I am attracted to people as they are not as I want them to be. I don’t heavily direct my subjects; instead I ask them what story they want to tell forging a collaborative atmosphere. When I am creating documentary work there’s an unspoken sense of understanding that exists in Black spaces. ### What do you want to say or address with your photography? You are seen. I see you and I want to help my audience really see you too. My first photography always told me to ‘take the audience where they can’t go’. Sometimes that means I’m taking you to a place, a time, or an emotional state. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/5eca507d-02c6-44ad-a013-d6405b80140d/Bria-Woods-2-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What influences and inspires you? How is this reflected in your work? Endia Beal, Joseph Patrick, Darren John, Francis Augusto, and Natasha Caruana all have permanent residence in my inspiration rotation. The result of their influence can be found in my work by observing playfulness, honesty, difficult subjects, an appreciation of human beauty, and undying passion for storytelling. ### Who are your favourite Black photographers from the past? Why? As a photojournalist I admire Carrie Mae Weems’ work and her patience to wait for the story to enter her frame. As a portrait or creative photographer I admire the playful intrigue of Lorna Simpson’s work. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/26ee91fb-b6ae-4a19-86bb-582e0dfe9fa6/Bria-Woods-3-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### Please describe the highs and lows of your experience as a Black photographer? The highs of being a Black woman photographer is hopefully being able to inspire other young Black children to see that this is possible for them too. To them I say your Blackness is a passport not a limitation. The lows are often being the only Black photographer in the room, especially in the photojournalism industry. If I’m not mistaken, I am the only Black photojournalist working in my city, and I live in the seventh largest city in the nation. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/8d5cb77a-9a3e-4fe8-9151-f4be3140fdcc/Bria-Woods-4-TheBlkGze-QA.png) ### What work are you producing and what more would you like to do? Currently I am working on two new personal projects, one centered on documenting the contributions of women in San Antonio, Texas and another series of landscapes and still lifes in the rural southern Texas. I would love to explore more 3D mediums such as working with sculptures, 3D printers, and also AR. --- ## About Bria Woods Bria Woods is a portrait photographer and photojournalist based in South Texas, USA. A people person to her core, Bria approaches her photography practice in a collaborative manner to tease out an essence of familiarity that can then be shared with the viewer. Bria holds a MA in Multimedia Broadcast Journalism from the University of Westminster, London. Bria’s work has been exhibited and published by a growing list of publications including the BBC. ### Connect with Bria [Website](https://bria-woods.format.com/?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/BriaWoodsPhotography?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Twitter](https://www.twitter.com/BriaWoods1?ref=theblkgze.com) --- ## Add your voice [![CTA Image](https://cdn.mymidnight.blog/995665640dc319973d3173a74a03860c/2025/04/shaunconnellmumjpeg.jpeg)](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) Through **The Black Gaze*, we don’t just reflect the world, we reshape it. Your story matters. Share it. Honour it. Hold space for others. This is where truth lives and vision leads. We invite Black photographers to contribute in two meaningful ways through story and image. [Get started ](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) ### Charlene Duron URL: https://www.theblkgze.com/africa/charlene-duron/ Last updated: 2025-04-18T17:28:59.000Z "The Black gaze is an intuitive perspective laid out with the purpose of improving how the reality is staged. It matters to me since artists can, and will be able to, step into the world with all they’ve got. Inspiration and fearless story telling prevails." — Charlene Duron ### How does the Black gaze relate to your photography practice? I love altering perspectives. I love drowning in diverse creativity. Being able to be part of such a space, is all I long for. ### What do you want to say or address with your photography? Everything there is about life. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/82dbba0c-ea61-4da8-ba2e-346e2fba3e6a/Charlene-Duron-1-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What influences and inspires you? How is this reflected in your work? Daily life. Thoughts. Simple daily actions. Culture. Outfits. Colour. Life. My work tells a story. It holds something familiar to at least someone out there. I enjoy creating from the abstract space to the physical world. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/ea1b8d81-feee-4670-a8ba-e435361d09ca/Charlene-Duron-3-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### Who are your favourite Black photographers from the past? Why? Robert A. Sengtacke and Coreen Simpson. Both of them have authentic work that for sure intrigues and inspires. It is art at its best, in my opinion. ### Please describe the highs and lows of your experience as a Black photographer? Stereotype perspectives and opinions. Lack of recognition especially by our local government and other people who see photographers as a cash machine. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/14f9514e-d433-4ca9-b070-97825b855523/Charlene-Duron-4-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What work are you producing and what more would you like to do? I create wallpapers and print some of them, on a small scale. I would like to venture into travel photography with a purpose of selling prints. Food photography is also another field I’d love to dive deep into. --- ## About Charlene Charlene Duron is an exciting freelance photographer based in Nairobi, Kenya who strives to ‘show it’ as she sees it. We first discovered Charlene thanks to [Elsie Kibue-Ngare’s 30 Day Photo Challenge](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BS6i%5FJygNlw&ref=theblkgze.com). ### Connect with Charlene [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/%5Fcharlene%5Fduron/?ref=theblkgze.com) --- ## Add your voice [![CTA Image](https://cdn.mymidnight.blog/995665640dc319973d3173a74a03860c/2025/04/shaunconnellmumjpeg.jpeg)](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) Through **The Black Gaze*, we don’t just reflect the world, we reshape it. Your story matters. Share it. Honour it. Hold space for others. This is where truth lives and vision leads. We invite Black photographers to contribute in two meaningful ways through story and image. [Get started ](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) ### Zaki Grant URL: https://www.theblkgze.com/q-and-a/zaki-grant/ Last updated: 2025-04-18T17:28:16.000Z "The Black gaze has echoes of the male gaze. I do, however, think that as a Black man it is my duty to re-appropriate how White people see us and how we see ourselves." — Zaki Grant ### How does the Black gaze relate to your photography practice? It doesn’t. ### What do you want to say or address with your photography? Nothing some days and everything others. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/ef7fcefc-be53-4665-ab46-f157c637796c/Zaki-Grant-2-TheBlkGze-QA.jpeg) ### What influences and inspires you? How is this reflected in your work? Cinema and the moving image. ### Who are your favourite Black photographers from the past? Why? Gordon Park and Ernest Withers, great reportage style under unbelievable social pressures at the time. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/428db9a7-702d-44e8-93b1-78adfc6412ae/Zaki-Grant-3-TheBlkGze-QA.jpeg) ### Please describe the highs and lows of your experience as a Black photographer? The highs: Winning £10k in a national photography project. The lows: Dealing with white photographers and their racist attitudes then being gaslighted by the same photographers. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/84cc9f33-891e-42e6-afef-d0598e40836e/Zaki-Grant-4-TheBlkGze-QA.jpeg) ### What work are you producing and what more would you like to do? Portraiture and Street photography. Wouldn’t mind doing more landscapes especially in North Wales. --- ## About Zaki Grant Zaki Grant is a Liverpool-based photographer who brings a street-style aesthetic to his specialism in portraits, events and weddings. ### Connect with Zaki [Website](https://caseusphoto.co.uk/?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/caseusphoto/?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Twitter](https://twitter.com/caseusphotog?ref=theblkgze.com) --- ## Add your voice [![CTA Image](https://cdn.mymidnight.blog/995665640dc319973d3173a74a03860c/2025/04/shaunconnellmumjpeg.jpeg)](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) Through **The Black Gaze*, we don’t just reflect the world, we reshape it. Your story matters. Share it. Honour it. Hold space for others. This is where truth lives and vision leads. We invite Black photographers to contribute in two meaningful ways through story and image. [Get started ](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) ### Kay Hickman URL: https://www.theblkgze.com/q-and-a/kay-hickman/ Last updated: 2025-04-18T17:27:18.000Z "The Black gaze is simply the perception of the Black person(s). It’s a view of the world from a voice that has long been silenced and as such, forces a target audience to engage true Blackness, dismantling the privileges in their perception." — Kay Hickman ### How does the Black gaze relate to your photography practice? Growing up as a kid, the lack of true representation of everyday black people was largely skewed. Focusing my art on documenting their livelihood in different communities, became a passion. We are so diverse and multifaceted that Black gaze only adds to the monolithic narrative more so when expressed through photography. ### What do you want to say or address with your photography? I want to highlight the diversity and the genius in our everyday living. I want to keep documenting, in hopes that the next generation of black people will get inspiration to be audacious and to be their authentic self, the Black culture is truly a rich culture. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/30411694-5000-4556-a9bb-a700a0ed2160/Kay-Hickman-2-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What influences and inspires you? How is this reflected in your work? I am greatly inspired by the things I consume, music, literature or just observing everyday people. Photography on the other hand, freezes the story of a person or subject on a timeline and forever, to be appreciated and valued for generations to come. The art of making photographs, challenges and broadens my perception of how they might be used to shape the future. ### Who are your favourite Black photographers from the past? Why? James Van Der Zee, he lived and created most of his work in Harlem which is where I grew up. He is known for his portraiture during the Harlem Renaissance. Ming Smith, Who largely does street photography. She made history being the first African American woman whose work was acquired by the Museum of Modern Art. Gordon Parks, because he is so multifaceted. He worked in so many different genres of photography: Street photography, fashion photography, photo-journalism as well as being a composer, pianist, writer and director. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/2ac10e6c-3096-469f-9a64-d1ef3290ae4c/Kay-Hickman-3-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### Please describe the highs and lows of your experience as a Black photographer? I am beyond grateful to get paid for doing something I absolutely LOVE to do. I hope that I am recognized for being a great photographer as it is something that I am actively seeking to achieve. However, I do not wish to be hindered or amplified because I am a Black photographer. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/67b958b8-7cdc-4949-b9a9-66c0aa027b58/Kay-Hickman-4-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What work are you producing and what more would you like to do? Currently, I have been working on personal projects that are tailored more to the visual art form. Additionally, I have been documenting the culture and changes happening in the Bedford-Stuyvesant area of Brooklyn, New York. I hope to keep pushing the envelope to create new work. --- ## About Kay Hickman Kay Hickman is a New York City based documentary photographer and visual artist. With an inquisitive eye, she offers a unique and empathetic perspective into the everyday lives of the people she photographs. Her work largely focuses on documenting the human experience as it relates to identity, human rights and health issues. Kay’s work has been featured in The New York Times, TIME, Vogue, Utne Reader, Ms. Magazine, OkayPlayer, Coeval, Jazz Halo and Photographic Journal: MFON Women Photographers of the African Diaspora. Hickman also Joined the Everyday Project’s Advisory Board where she works on various initiatives, as well as helps curate Everyday Black America’s Instagram feed. ### Connect with Kay [Website](https://www.khickmanphotography.com/?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/khickmanphotography/?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Twitter](https://twitter.com/KayHickman15?ref=theblkgze.com) --- ## Add your voice [![CTA Image](https://cdn.mymidnight.blog/995665640dc319973d3173a74a03860c/2025/04/shaunconnellmumjpeg.jpeg)](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) Through **The Black Gaze*, we don’t just reflect the world, we reshape it. Your story matters. Share it. Honour it. Hold space for others. This is where truth lives and vision leads. We invite Black photographers to contribute in two meaningful ways through story and image. [Get started ](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) ### Halini Abebe URL: https://www.theblkgze.com/q-and-a/halini-abebe/ Last updated: 2025-04-18T19:05:33.000Z "The Black gaze means looking within, it means revisiting stories that were documented by the White folk when it comes to our own stories. I can give you Ethiopia, my own country, as an example. A lot of its history, including imagery has been written and photographed by White folk who missed the complexities of the country. This has contributed to distortions and almost a monolithic view of the country and the African continent as a whole. SO to me the Black gaze is about the new found opportunity of owning narratives and showing every side of the story deeply, not just on the surface." — Hilina Abebe ### How does the Black gaze relate to your photography practice? Like my peers in this current generation of story tellers, I believe that we now have the opportunity to showcase local stories and do so beautifully. My work revolves around dignity and ensuring that there is a level of trust built between me the person in front of the camera. It is a very important aspect that Black people did not have the luxury to be represented in that manner for centuries. All you have to do is google history of Black representation and it is there to remind us all that we should not be repeating the same selected narrative. ### What do you want to say or address with your photography? I want to be able to tell local stories, with empathy. I think the role of photography is to build that bridge even when people live across the bridge. I am passionate about the resilience of people who I see almost everyday. My goal is to show that well. That is my hope. In addition to this, I want to contribute to what I referred earlier about building trust among society, that photography can be a tool to preserve a greater understanding of people. There is a lot of mistrust around the camera, sadly, that emanated from this monolithic representation of black people whose stories have always been about poverty and war, when in reality the story is complex. I think it also falls upon my generation of story tellers to regain that trust. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/69241835-0dd0-4126-81e2-371c76543964/Hilina-Abebe-2-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What influences and inspires you? How is this reflected in your work? My greatest inspiration comes from being rooted in society, and the curiosity to reveal it further. For me, it is the everyday people who do not make the news who are an inspiration. It is the respect and empathy for people’s journeys. Every individual has a significant story that does not make it to the news unless it is breaking news caused by a disaster, conflict, violence. We ought to be keen and look deeply. ### Who are your favourite Black photographers from the past? Why? I had little reference to black photographers until after I started taking photography seriously and of course because they are rarely talked about. The first Black photographer whose work I have been introduced to was the South African photographer, Earnest Cole… so it was a revealing moment. Another photographer, who I had the honour to meet briefly in 2014 and learn from just weeks before his passing was Michel Du Cile. He made me believe in myself as a photographer. Of course there are many other living Black photographers whose work I respect so much: Shawn Walker, Eli Reed, Ruddy Roye, Russell Frederick, and many more. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/e01ad8e8-e5f0-4d8e-8ac1-6fb8c2d9c609/Hilina-Abebe-3-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### Please describe the highs and lows of your experience as a Black photographer? I would say I have been fortunate enough to have opportunities that were not possible for Black journalists and photographers before me. This is because we now live in a digital age where one can access platforms and even self-publish and tell stories. I have also been fortunate enough to learn from many great photographers and receive their mentorship. As for the lows, there is still this notion that local photographers cannot tell the story as the White person flying in and doing it. This perception has to change. I have seen that as an Ethiopian photographer living in Ethiopia, I do not have the same access as the white photographer coming to Ethiopia. Being a bystander because you don’t have the “Press” ID to tell a story you are close to is something that should be challenged. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/9cbfb902-2ddf-4d77-ab8e-4b0ddec9638f/Hilina-Abebe-4-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What work are you producing and what more would you like to do? I have been perusing personal projects, one that documents my own father (“Portraying My Father”) which I started documenting in 2017\. The other one “Ethiopia in USA” looks into Ethiopian immigrants living in the U.S. and their sense of community while living with a newly found identity as Ethiopian-Americans. The latter I would like to continue perusing from a deeper dimension. Besides these two, I hope to document more social justice stories in Ethiopia which I am passionate about. --- ## About Hilina Abebe Born and raised in Ethiopia, Abebe is a self-taught documentary photographer who is influenced by her father’s black and white family photographs he made in the ’60s and ’70s. Her work focuses on long-form documentary and portraiture; exploring inequality, identity, history, and the significance of memory. She combines her background in Journalism and Social Work to discuss issues in her storytelling. Hilina is an Eddie Adams Workshop XXIX Alum. In 2016, she participated in the New York Times Portfolio Review and the World Press Photo East Africa Masterclass. She is also a Joop Swart and PDN’s 30 nominee. Her clients include The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Getty Images, and Terra Mater Magazine. ### Connect with Hilina [Website](http://hilinaabebe.com/?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/sincerelyhilina?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Twitter](https://www.twitter.com/abebe%5Fhilina?ref=theblkgze.com) --- ## Add your voice [![CTA Image](https://cdn.mymidnight.blog/995665640dc319973d3173a74a03860c/2025/04/shaunconnellmumjpeg.jpeg)](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) Through **The Black Gaze*, we don’t just reflect the world, we reshape it. Your story matters. Share it. Honour it. Hold space for others. This is where truth lives and vision leads. We invite Black photographers to contribute in two meaningful ways through story and image. [Get started ](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) ### Camille Fontaine URL: https://www.theblkgze.com/q-and-a/camille-fontaine/ Last updated: 2025-04-18T18:13:36.000Z "Whilst there is much similarity across the diaspora, not all Black experiences are the same and too often we are oversimplified as a community. The Black gaze is not monolithic and I interpret it as two things; firstly, it describes communicating the wealth of variety and lived experiences across the global African diaspora; secondly, it expresses the beauty of life, history and the world through the diverse perspectives within the diaspora. It’s hugely important that each community has the opportunity to have their human experience expressed through their multifaceted gaze, to disrupt the pre-existing colonial schools of thought that are presented in media, design and arts. So, as many others have already highlighted in their Q&As, the Black gaze is also specifically African diasporic narratives from within the diaspora itself." — Camille Fontaine ### How does the Black gaze relate to your photography practice? My definition hugely underpins my practice almost as a set of founding principles. The HOME Series was born out of being a part of numerous conversations surrounding blackness and belonging. Despite at least three participants being Black femmes from London, there is much diversity across their responses and how the concept of ‘home’ has manifested for them. I felt it important to try to capture and protect these experiences. As a photographer, I aim to allow the subject to take lead on how they wish to represent themselves and their opinions, to maintain the integrity of the project. ### What do you want to say or address with your photography? I hope to address the varied contexts and nuances of blackness; to offer alternatives to the mainstream representation of the Black experience. I think my work is also conversational – it is intended to cause reflection for those who are both within and outside of the Black diaspora, to reflect on their consumption of Black narratives. There are so many talented Black creatives past and present, working on similar practices who are beyond inspirational. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/2d0b058b-3020-487c-998f-ad3a38fb5e3b/Camille-Fontaine-2-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What influences and inspires you? How is this reflected in your work? I’m inspired by many other creative and academic bodies of work – there are too many to name! I love music, travel, and experiential moments. Inspiration can be found in anything. In terms of my landscape work, I’m obsessed with bodies of water and the sky – especially from aerial views or horizons. Living in a flat in London, most of my surroundings are man-made, so my soul seeks out organic things. I also was inspired by computer desktops! I began doing landscape work initially to produce rich imagery that could be used across the tech and media industries. Artist-wise, my immediate go to is Lina Iris Viktor; I’ve been following her practice since around 2016\. Lina’s artwork is outstanding and I’m incredibly inspired by the academic underpinning of her work. It can be seen in not just how she presents her portraits, paintings and prints, but also the intention in the presentation of her work, whether it be a book or an installation. I also take an academic approach to my work discussing Black narratives, and have a booklist that has informed the themes of my projects, but also the ethics of how I capture and curate the outcomes. ### Who are your favourite Black photographers from the past? Why? They aren’t ‘of the past’ but have been unofficial mentors for me as I began carving out what my identity as a photographer was. Founders of MFON: Women Photographers of the African Diaspora, Adama Delphine Fawundu and Laylah Amatullah Barrayn have been hugely influential as visual artists and documentary photographers whose work has social impact. Prior to considering myself as a photojournalist/ documentary photographer, I couldn’t see myself or my work in professional photography spaces. Attending talks by Adama and Layla were hugely educational, as I saw how I could exist in the photographic industry. Also, a huge shout out to Marie Smith who sat and talked with me about her creative practice over the years as a visual artist. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/3bcd6f02-6a48-4e4b-9c52-24f63e6e87c2/Camille-Fontaine-3-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### Please describe the highs and lows of your experience as a Black photographer? Let’s get the ugly part out of the way. There seems to be a reoccurrence in the UK of a lack of Black female representation in the photographic/videographic industry. As a result, it can negatively impact how Black womxn are paid and the treatment of their work. Quite frequently in mainstream spaces, my technical ability is underestimated before any work is seen, based purely on assumptions made about my intersection. However, if my work is viewed and I am anonymous, it receives much praise, followed by the surprise that it was captured by me! The highs have come from the rising community of Black creatives that I have had the pleasure to collaborate with or join with as an international community. Whether we’ve met in person or online, the diaspora has come through, particularly Black femmes, in uplifting and upholding one another. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/f3e4ef64-91bc-475e-8a90-ccdfc0a0b4d0/Camille-Fontaine-4-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What work are you producing and what more would you like to do? I’d like to do more landscapes, potentially get involved with drone work if possible. But we’ll see what happens with the pandemic. I am continuing with producing The HOME Series – I think this is going to be a lifelong piece of work. I’m always on the lookout for people who wish to be captured as part of the project. It is a blessing to be learning so much from my global community and while also being able to give something back. --- ## About Camille Fontaine London-based Camille Fontaine is a visual artist who uses photography and moving image to document society and explore normative identity narratives. Her current project THE HOME SERIES explores the relationship between location, citizenship and identity. ### Connect with Camille [Website](https://camillefontaine.online/?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/miss%5Fcfontaine?ref=theblkgze.com) --- ## Add your voice [![CTA Image](https://cdn.mymidnight.blog/995665640dc319973d3173a74a03860c/2025/04/shaunconnellmumjpeg.jpeg)](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) Through **The Black Gaze*, we don’t just reflect the world, we reshape it. Your story matters. Share it. Honour it. Hold space for others. This is where truth lives and vision leads. We invite Black photographers to contribute in two meaningful ways through story and image. [Get started ](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) ### Michael V. Louis URL: https://www.theblkgze.com/q-and-a/michael-v-louis/ Last updated: 2025-04-18T18:17:33.000Z "My point of view as a Black man dominated by white people. The way I see this world matters because the way it is has not been designed for me to fit in, or feel like I belong, or that I truly matter. The Black Gaze is about my point of view and narrative stopping traffic – it’s about Blacks recognising that we may be different shades of Black and Brown and yet, as a community feeling connected to each other as brothers and sisters. If you are going to refer to me as brother you better back it with affirmative action befitting a brother from another mother." — Michael V. Louis ### **How does the Black gaze relate to your photography practice?** I am not afraid to point my camera at any situation that needs a visual representation. As a Black man with a camera in my hand, I have been stopped on the streets for creating photographs innocently. I stood my ground and made these people aware of who I am and why my photojournalism matters. Every photograph I create is a self portrait and you’ll see who I am through the individual story and narrative of my work. ### **What do you want to say or address with your photography?** The Expression of life in all of its manifestations. Right now my camera is pointed towards my mother as we battle her ongoing dementia. My duty is to care for her and preserve her dignity in 35mm. I am also blown away by the beauty of Black women and my ongoing project is called a Celebration of Women. This project features all woman but my muse is seeking more Black women to collaborate with. I find the human face a source of ongoing inspiration. The portrait is much more than a headshot, it’s a creative journey into the psychological construction of human identity. The identity of the Black men and women has gone through a serious transformation in the last 400 years. I hope my visual stories can encapsulate the spirit and dignity of Black people. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/28290a45-3c61-4319-8e92-331f1462c45e/Michael-V-Louis-2-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### **What influences and inspires you? How is this reflected in your work?** I am a professional magician so this in itself is beautiful. To see an amazing piece of magic and gasp in astonishment is part of my photographic armoury. When I see the light I get excited because the light reveals a possibility, now I wait for the drama to unfold. I study the light and the gesture in each specific moment. Lighting is everything, without it I would be fumbling in the dark. My relationship to the light has been my study this year. As a magician, I see a wonderful connection here to create visual stories with my images that draw gasps of astonishment. ### **Who are your favourite Black photographers from the past? Why?** Mr Gordon Parks, because he saw the possibility to frame the experience of Black of people and the injustice directed at us. His work reveals our dignity with vivid and dynamic clarity. Black people created a life in a time and a place where they weren’t wanted and he was there to capture it. I also love the work of Howard Bingham. He had the life time gig, photographing Muhammad Ali night and Day. Can you imagine doing just that? I met him and Ali at a charity show I performed at. Mr Bingham was a gentleman, full of class and dignity so much so that I am researching more Black photojournalists from the past. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/e1dca090-6c13-41f4-acc6-e4d412f22a6c/Michael-V-Louis-3-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### **Please describe the highs and lows of your experience as a Black photographer?** I have been creating images since I was 15\. I’ve always had camera of some kind. I started studying the craft seriously seven years ago. At present, the only highs I have felt has been to study with my friend and mentor, Bryan Peterson. Having purchased his book, I signed up for his class in Washington D.C. The high was completing an online class with Joel Meyerowitz. As for lows, can’t say I have had any. That said, people stopping me in the street for creating images is stupid and ignorant. I’m not easily intimidated. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/d9e98814-c7cc-421d-8636-9da274a3ed8e/Michael-V-Louis-4-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### **What work are you producing and what more would you like to do?** ‘Dementia Through My Lens’ is my current project. ‘Celebrating the Beauty in all Women’ is another. Through conversation and portraits I build up a narrative that explores how women REALLY see themselves. My camera doesn’t come out unless rapport and connection is present. It all begins with an honest, authentic conversation. --- ## **About Michael V. Louis** Michael V. Louis is a London-based, visual storyteller passionate about celebrating life and capturing humanity. His work is centred on conversation, communication and self expression. ### **Connect with Michael** [Website](https://www.fujiwarrior.com/home?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Presentation](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aki%5FrIxinY&ref=theblkgze.com) / [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/fujiwarrior/?ref=theblkgze.com) --- ## Add your voice [![CTA Image](https://cdn.mymidnight.blog/995665640dc319973d3173a74a03860c/2025/04/shaunconnellmumjpeg.jpeg)](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) Through **The Black Gaze*, we don’t just reflect the world, we reshape it. Your story matters. Share it. Honour it. Hold space for others. This is where truth lives and vision leads. We invite Black photographers to contribute in two meaningful ways through story and image. [Get started ](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) ### Ola Adegoroye URL: https://www.theblkgze.com/q-and-a/ola-adegoroye/ Last updated: 2025-04-18T18:21:24.000Z "The Black gaze to me is seeing the world through the eyes of Black people, their experience, thoughts and interactions." — Ola Adegoroye ### How does the Black gaze relate to your photography practice? Living in a predominantly white town I have to force myself through my photography to be authentic and unapologetically Black which I hope I achieve especially with my personal projects, tacking subjects such as colourism, appropriation and racism. ### What do you want to say or address with your photography? I especially want to see Black women as desired beautiful and feminine. Which a lot of the time isn’t the case in mainstream media. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/d464aef7-a594-4d7e-a01b-5ebdbcf5ffc3/Ola-Adegoroye-2-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What influences and inspires you? How is this reflected in your work? Every thing and anything from vintage film to a walk in the Chiltern hills where I live. ### Who are your favourite Black photographers from the past? Why? Coreen Simpson. I loved the way she photographed people especially the avant garde style she used. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/99fec6cc-e58f-4ffe-b9b5-be171cf148d6/Ola-Adegoroye-3-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### Please describe the highs and lows of your experience as a Black photographer? I’ll start on a high, with being invited to speak on BBC radio Woman’s Hour to talk about photographing Black women. The lows will be not being offered the same opportunities as my white counterparts. I really do hope that’s changing with more editors asking for Black creatives and Black artists demanding it. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/eba39b27-3ca4-440a-9ed2-4c7c569fdf62/Ola-Adegoroye-4-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What work are you producing and what more would you like to do? About to start a Black femininity project. Think Black women in flowing dresses and flowers. --- ## About Ola Adegorove Ola Adegoroye is a portrait and fashion photographer based in Buckinghamshire, England. A former hair stylist and make-up artist, Ola’s work is centred on helping women realise their beauty through fine art images. ### **Connect with Ola** [Website](https://olaadegoroye.wixsite.com/olaaphotography?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/olaaphotography?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Twitter](https://www.twitter.com/behindtheshoot?ref=theblkgze.com) --- ## Add your voice [![CTA Image](https://cdn.mymidnight.blog/995665640dc319973d3173a74a03860c/2025/04/shaunconnellmumjpeg.jpeg)](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) Through **The Black Gaze*, we don’t just reflect the world, we reshape it. Your story matters. Share it. Honour it. Hold space for others. This is where truth lives and vision leads. We invite Black photographers to contribute in two meaningful ways through story and image. [Get started ](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) ### Tobi Sobowale URL: https://www.theblkgze.com/q-and-a/tobi-sobowale/ Last updated: 2025-04-18T18:25:05.000Z "The Black gaze to me is about unapologetically showing the world through your eyes. Whether it be capturing people, food or landscapes. It is an opportunity to tell your story, without narrowing its explanation in order to communicate its message to a particular audience. Black people are often categorised, grouped into a box, however we each have a nuanced perspective that is moulded by our experiences. Its about taking control of the narrative, which means being able to share our personal narratives amongst others. It is about taking that power back and not having others share our stories for us and our perspective on how we see the world." — Tobi Sobowale ### **How does the Black gaze relate to your photography practice?** This is difficult for me to answer because I am still trying to find my feet within photography, although it has been 6 years. So I don’t believe my work truly represents my thoughts in relation to the Black gaze just yet. So at the moment, I mainly shoot beauty and fashion, which is often communicated as a refined perspective. You know everything must be perfectly retouched, lit and presented. However it presents people in a false light and although I have not yet started, I hope to challenge this. To unapologetically say with my work, “Maybe we should do things differently…” ### **What do you want to say or address with your photography?** So growing up I had acne from an early age. I remember being the only child in my class with it at age 10 and I always thought that because it came early, it would also disappear early and that has not been the case. For those who haven’t struggled with skin conditions, they might be unaware of the impact that this has on someone. So with beauty photography, the automatic response is to edit out blemishes. And with every one I edit out, a voice in my head makes me question the choice. So I would like to create work that tells women that they are okay as they are. We live in a world, where there are so many images presented to us, telling us what we should look like. But how about if we just looked like ourselves? Besides that, my main aim within photography which I believe has shown quite consistently, is to show the nuances of black women. Yes we are strong and powerful but we are also soft and vulnerable. We aren’t just one way and I think that this is so important to show. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/76755f5c-7e29-4a22-9b41-eba79ec812e0/Tobi-Sobowale-2-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What influences and inspires you? How is this reflected in your work? The people around me. I mainly photograph Black women and that’s because I am a Black woman, I was raised by a Black woman and a lot of the people who make me laugh, who make me cry, who inspire me are also Black women. And as I said before we are often categorised but yet we are so different and I want to show that in my work. ### Who are your favourite Black photographers from the past? Why? This is very embarrassing but I am going to be completely honest. I do not know any and therefore I do not have a favourite. I have not taken the time to actually study photographers from the past and as soon as I have finished writing this, I will be doing my research. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/b63a9724-ac83-42f2-a3a1-2897d9ba1095/Tobi-Sobowale-3-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### Please describe the highs and lows of your experience as a Black photographer? My highs would be the reaction I get when people see the photos I take of them. I believe the whole interaction is empowering for both me, who is behind the camera but also for the women who sit in front of it. The lows would be not seeing more of the people who look like me, showing the world through their eyes. Being Black and a woman is difficult and there are many barriers that we face. I am grateful to groups such as [UKBFTOG](https://ukbftog.com/?ref=theblkgze.com) and Black Women Photographers who are putting in work to create more opportunities for Black Women Photographers. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/0e3f7e41-065f-4042-b3c0-a7d310950e28/Tobi-Sobowale-4-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What work are you producing and what more would you like to do? At the moment I am doing a lot of beauty photography. However they look like the work that I am trying to challenge. So I hope to have a project or two, that looks at dismantling the core themes of beauty photography and the lens in which we show women. I would also like to create more documentary photography. I think even if its just as a personal collection, it is so important to take control of your personal narrative. And as a photographer I have the opportunity to do this. But so does everyone, phones now mean that we can all document our lives and preserve our heritage. --- ## About Tobi London-based Tobi Sobowale is a architectural designer and photographer who specialises in portrait, beauty and fashion photography. Her work has been published by Ellements Magazine, Malvie Magazine; featured in BBC News Midlands; and exhibited at the Harris Museum Preston and Blank Space in Walsall. Tobi is the founder of The Walking in Purpose Blog which encourages open and transparent conversation, encouraging women to love and embrace themselves. ### **Connect** [Website](https://www.shobolondon.com/?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/shobo%5Fphotography?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Twitter](https://www.twitter.com/tobi%5Fshobo?ref=theblkgze.com) --- ## Add your voice [![CTA Image](https://cdn.mymidnight.blog/995665640dc319973d3173a74a03860c/2025/04/shaunconnellmumjpeg.jpeg)](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) Through **The Black Gaze*, we don’t just reflect the world, we reshape it. Your story matters. Share it. Honour it. Hold space for others. This is where truth lives and vision leads. We invite Black photographers to contribute in two meaningful ways through story and image. [Get started ](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) ### Michael Esigbone URL: https://www.theblkgze.com/q-and-a/michael-esigbone/ Last updated: 2025-04-18T18:29:28.000Z "The Black gaze is a reminder that even though there isn’t so much recognition of Black photographers out there, there’s still appreciation of work done Black photographers. It matters because it shows people are watching, people love what you do , that gives you drive, that wants to keep you going." — Michael Esigbone ### How does the Black gaze relate to your photography practice? I want to keep creating. ### What do you want to say or address with your photography? When people see my photographs, sometimes it’s a question of “What I was thinking of when I took that?”, perspective is totally different, and my art is one of perspective. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/9ceeb817-ad75-4e59-ba9d-7702b70aab02/Michael-Esigbone-1-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What influences and inspires you? How is this reflected in your work? Inspiration comes from different places, sometimes it’s music, sometimes it just comes out of nowhere, and I’m grateful for that. My work is original, a piece at a time. ### Who are your favourite Black photographers from the past? Why? Lorna Simpson for her originality. Gordon Parks for doing it without holding himself back. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/8a52bd47-448d-4e73-8f02-81ec51cde557/Michael-Esigbone-3-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### Please describe the highs and lows of your experience as a Black photographer? There are a lot of wonderful Black photographers out there, that the world should see, but recognition is low. I hope for the ones who work hard they get their flowers when they’re alive. We are rich in culture and that’s probably like an underlying form of inspiration, it makes me create original photos and that’s really great. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/b7dfbfd7-8dab-4082-a080-4a16b266915c/Michael-Esigbone-4-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What work are you producing and what more would you like to do? Some personal projects. I would really love to do a documentary series on female artists in Nigeria in the coming years. --- ## About Michael Esigbone Lagos-based Michael Esigbone is a conceptual photographer specialising in portraiture, fashion and art. ### Connect with Michael [Website](https://michaelesigbone.wixsite.com/michaelesigbone?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/michael.esigbone?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Twitter](https://www.twitter.com/obodenmichael?ref=theblkgze.com) --- ## Add your voice [![CTA Image](https://cdn.mymidnight.blog/995665640dc319973d3173a74a03860c/2025/04/shaunconnellmumjpeg.jpeg)](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) Through **The Black Gaze*, we don’t just reflect the world, we reshape it. Your story matters. Share it. Honour it. Hold space for others. This is where truth lives and vision leads. We invite Black photographers to contribute in two meaningful ways through story and image. [Get started ](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) ### Ash Sealy URL: https://www.theblkgze.com/q-and-a/ash-sealy/ Last updated: 2025-04-18T18:33:01.000Z "To me, the Black gaze is about redefining the stereotype often associated with a Black face. It is important to share my view despite adversity, as from those challenges comes opportunity and perspective." — Ash Seal ### How does the Black gaze relate to your photography practice? In essence, it drives me to challenge myself continually. I see my creativity as a gift, and I am therefore grateful for each opportunity to share my artistry with the world. Having a visual outlet and honing my vision through a lens enables me to visually chart my progress, which fuels me to keep going- and in so doing, add to the conversation around the importance of diversity and inclusion. ### What do you want to say or address with your photography? The very act of being both Black and a woman in a creative field is an act of defiance in itself, and therefore, each story I capture makes a difference. As a minority, my presence is part of that story. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/65edee7e-7bd9-4261-8093-da99c22ff0bb/Ash-Sealy-Photography-2-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What influences and inspires you? How is this reflected in your work? I’m captivated by the game of extracting the ideas in my head to physical concepts. I often take inspiration from the music I compose and the artwork I create. For me, every medium allows a different facet of an idea to form and manifest itself. Each project often has a soundtrack or a painting associated with it; even if not all elements see the light of day, they are essential in fleshing out the full story I aim to tell. ### Who are your favourite Black photographers from the past? Why? I came across Vera Jackson’s work recently, and I fell in love with it. The narrative style of her photography puts you into the scene as she saw it. I wanted to be a journalist when I was younger, and photojournalism has always captured my interest. Vera is particularly inspiring due to her dedication to telling the truth. A majority of media (especially in the 1940s and later around the civil rights movement) painted a homogeneous picture of Black people, often negative. Highlighting the inequalities and hardships of minorities isn’t as newsworthy as the Black on Black crime or the lowest common denominator that will keep us in a box. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/61d48215-b7fa-4073-a437-5f7d19881a3d/Ash-Sealy-Photography-3-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### Please describe the highs and lows of your experience as a Black photographer? I didn’t take myself seriously as a photographer until it was the only method of communication I had left. Going to a predominately white university and being the only Black person on my course for the first year made me invisible yet hyper-visible at the same time. From that, I was only known as ‘the Black girl’ consciously or not; I could feel it. Going to events, I was othered a lot of the time, but the performance events were compulsory for my music degree. My mum is actually the one that told me to bring my camera, as I did not want to go, at least I would get some nice pictures. Through photography, I was able to disrupt others’ narrative about me and create my own. It started a dialogue that showed me for more than my skin tone. What began as a low transformed into me starting my photography business whilst at university and changing my life in ways I didn’t think were possible. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/e9a6f4d7-a323-4271-9a03-b7540a663c2d/Ash-Sealy-Photography-4-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What work are you producing and what more would you like to do? I’m doing a lot of events photography at the moment. My favourite type of events to shoot are concerts, as it combines my passion for music and photography. There’s nothing like capturing the energy exchange between performers and their audiences. The whole atmosphere is electric, and each moment is one of a kind. The common denominator in all my work is storytelling, and I would love the opportunity to help more people speak their truths without words. --- ## About Ash Sealy London-based Ash Sealy is a photographer, creative consultant and web designer. Ash recently graduated with a degree in Music from the University of Southampton. Inspired by music, colour and soulfulness, Ash specialises in portraits, music, fashion and corporate photography for clients across the UK. ### Connect with Ash #### [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/whatabouttheash?ref=theblkgze.com) --- ## Add your voice [![CTA Image](https://cdn.mymidnight.blog/995665640dc319973d3173a74a03860c/2025/04/shaunconnellmumjpeg.jpeg)](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) Through **The Black Gaze*, we don’t just reflect the world, we reshape it. Your story matters. Share it. Honour it. Hold space for others. This is where truth lives and vision leads. We invite Black photographers to contribute in two meaningful ways through story and image. [Get started ](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) ### Kester Onyemaechi URL: https://www.theblkgze.com/q-and-a/kester-onyemaechi/ Last updated: 2025-04-18T18:46:32.000Z "The Black gaze to me simply means being different. Everyday I see photographers and I go, “What goes on in the head of these guys?” I want that for me someday, I want people to wonder and crave how I think." — Kester Onyemaechi ### How does the Black gaze relate to your photography practice? I’ve always wanted to see things differently, and that’s what I try to do with my photography. Everyday I’m trying to create uniqueness, and I hope I succeed. ### What do you want to say or address with your photography? I shoot documentary, portraits, events and sometimes streets. With my documentaries, I want to address societal issues and create awareness towards them. With the street, I want to show changes and everyday movement in the street and with portraits and events, I just want to make money. ### What influences and inspires you? How is this reflected in your work? I want to tell stories with my photography, and that’s why I shoot the way I shoot. That’s why I shoot what I shoot. I find myself shooting in batches even in events, because I want people to move from one image to another with interpretations. I just want to document pivotal points in the Black experience. ### Who are your favourite Black photographers from the past? Why? I love works from Andrew Esiebo. How he tells stories with every image is quite captivating. ### Please describe the highs and lows of your experience as a Black photographer? Well, as a Black photographer I think we struggle twice as hard to get the gears and all that, especially for some of us that are not from wealthy backgrounds. We have to bite the dust just to get what we want. The struggles have been real. I go online and see people from other races say they have so so so amount of cameras, and only a few people can say that here, and they can’t even say it out because they might come out as insensitive. It’s tough out here, but we’ve been making things work. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/1ef5b7f1-3837-4584-a86d-7322c41aac64/Kester-Onyemaechi-4-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What work are you producing and what more would you like to do? I’m currently going to start all over again on my works on the albino Community after my hard drive crashed with the images in it. I’m working on an inclusive story for people living with albinism. Hopefully they’re reciprocal enough to help me document them more and it comes out how I want it. --- ## About Kester Onyemaechi Lagos-based Kester Onyemaechi is a portrait photographer whose photography will change the world. ### Connect with Kester [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/Khannahblack?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Twitter](https://www.twitter.com/Khannahblack?ref=theblkgze.com) --- ## Add your voice [![CTA Image](https://cdn.mymidnight.blog/995665640dc319973d3173a74a03860c/2025/04/shaunconnellmumjpeg.jpeg)](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) Through **The Black Gaze*, we don’t just reflect the world, we reshape it. Your story matters. Share it. Honour it. Hold space for others. This is where truth lives and vision leads. We invite Black photographers to contribute in two meaningful ways through story and image. [Get started ](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) ### Jessica Bethel URL: https://www.theblkgze.com/q-and-a/jessica-bethel/ Last updated: 2025-04-18T18:40:50.000Z "The Black Gaze means seeing and feeling the very experience through the lens/eyes of the Black diaspora. Our gaze matters because we’ve been silenced for centuries in every aspect, medium, and intricate part of history across the globe. History is nothing without us, we are the blueprint." — Jessica Bethel ### How does the Black gaze relate to your photography practice? Since I discovering photography in High School, I generally was dubbed the token Black woman that was a photographer. As I discovered which direction I wanted to take my practice, I set an intention to solely showcase the Black narrative and empowering Black images. It’s imperative to show such representation because of Black art suppression. ### What do you want to say or address with your photography? I want to speak joy. I want to speak peace. I want to show our raw stories. I just want to document pivotal points in the Black experience. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/58436d65-c3d5-4d2c-9c1c-dadc7e7d9fb2/Jessica-Bethel-2-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What influences and inspires you? How is this reflected in your work? I would say my experiences, my culture, various shows that bring nostalgia, reading, and travelling all influence and inspire me in different ways. In my creative process, this is really reflected and certain photos I shoot may not really resonate with viewers as much, but it brings me back to a certain point in my life. I just want to document pivotal points in the Black experience ### Who are your favourite Black photographers from the past? Why? Roy DeCarava – favorite photographer of all time for me. Roy shoots with intention and joy. His photos have a raw yet freeing sensation when viewing his images. Lorna Simpson – when I first came across her work, it was nothing I’ve ever seen from a photographer. She bends the rules, she experiments, and creates compelling images that touch specific experiences as a Black woman. Carrie Mae Weems – What a legend. Something about her photos just captivates me. She was one of the first Black Woman photographers I came across. Her work has a special feel which guides you to think a bit deeper. Carrie’s style is undeniably striking and very special. Dawoud Bey – timeless photos. The Birmingham Project is one of the first series I discovered and it was heart wrenching yet kept me in awe. He shows the Black experience and continues to push boundaries. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/a03ac960-a0cb-415a-aaee-b97e77ae4d5f/Jessica-Bethel-3-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### Please describe the highs and lows of your experience as a Black photographer? The lows would be the discovering what I want to tell and how I would like to be known as which I struggle with constantly. Breaking barriers and blocking out that negative self talk are also lows that I deal with as a Black Woman. In a medium where men dominate , you honestly have to put up a barrier just to protect yourself. Sometimes in white spaces, you don’t feel like your work is worthy or relatable, so you question should I water down my work for the sake of exposure or being hired. My highs are being recognised by my community and colleagues. I’ve been afforded opportunities to showcase my work in various spaces and working with some phenomenal creatives. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/4756d054-6029-435a-af59-2dc1a5e142ac/Jessica-Bethel-4-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What work are you producing and what more would you like to do? Right now, I’m in a huge transition period. I’m in a planning phase for my next projects and shoots so be on the lookout for that. I am doing a bit more educational opportunities within photography, utilising my art history background to inform others about the history of photography specifically Black history. I would like to do a bit more writing and add more to the educational art opportunities. --- ## About Jessica Bethel Jessica Bethel is a South Florida native, currently based in Los Angeles. First and foremost, Jessica is film photographer and enthusiast who specialises in portraiture and fine art. Jessica loves creating meaningful work centred around Black and Brown people. In her spare time, Jessica is a social media manager, yoga teacher, book club owner (Literature Noir), and wellness advocate. ### **Connect with Jessica** [Website](https://www.jessicabethel.com/?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/4eyedcameragirl?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Twitter](https://www.twitter.com/4eyedgirl%5F?ref=theblkgze.com) --- ## Add your voice [![CTA Image](https://cdn.mymidnight.blog/995665640dc319973d3173a74a03860c/2025/04/shaunconnellmumjpeg.jpeg)](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) Through **The Black Gaze*, we don’t just reflect the world, we reshape it. Your story matters. Share it. Honour it. Hold space for others. This is where truth lives and vision leads. We invite Black photographers to contribute in two meaningful ways through story and image. [Get started ](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) ### Roxanne Munson URL: https://www.theblkgze.com/q-and-a/roxanne-munson/ Last updated: 2025-04-18T18:45:14.000Z "The Black gaze means to me being able to see myself and others who look like me fully. Unfiltered. Raw. Real. Beautiful. It matters because it helps me show up in the world fully and unapologetically as my Black self." — Roxanne Munson ### How does the Black gaze relate to your photography practice? I am intentional about letting people know I see them. I connect with them because they trust me and know I want to get to know them better. My images show a human connection because I focus on capturing people from a non-voyeuristic approach. ### What do you want to say or address with your photography? I want to change the narrative regarding Black/POC not living full and thriving lives. I want Black/POC to know they can travel through the world and not have to move in fear. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/7062e156-cfcd-41b5-acec-403ced66da96/Roxanne-Munson-2-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What influences and inspires you? How is this reflected in your work? I am very self reflective and love people watching. I love watching how people interact with their environment and the people in it. Before I click my shutter I often say, “When I look at you I see myself..” I try hard to see elements of myself in the people I capture. I have to see myself in my work or it is not meaningful to me. ### Who are your favourite Black photographers from the past? Why? Definitely Gordon Parks. He set the standard for showing the world Black people should be seen and captured living fully. I also love Carrie Mae Weems. She was unafraid to use her photography to discuss aspects of the Black experience from a Black female perspective. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/655028b4-7dd5-490c-9e03-63a29455a9c7/Roxanne-Munson-3-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### Please describe the highs and lows of your experience as a Black photographer? As a documentary “family” photographer, many of the spaces I roam are NOT diverse. I have taken courses with over 40 people and I am the ONLY Black person. I hate that it is so lacking in diversity, and white people fail to see/know we too live full and thriving lives. But I am a big believer in ‘Be the change you want to see”. So I have challenged owners of various organisations to diversify their platform. And I am now creating educational content for non-Black photographers regarding being more inclusive to Black/POC. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/78156355-82d2-4460-97d1-b05d8e46eb3e/Roxanne-Munson-4-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What work are you producing and what more would you like to do**?** I am currently working on a photo essay about my lived experience as a Black woman in Mexico for six years. I would like to do more long term documentary projects about stories I find interesting. --- ## **About Roxanne Munson** Roxanne Munson is a Mexico-based documentary family photographer who wants everyone in front of her lens to feel seen and valued. Her passion for photography started when she became a mother, and wanted to document her children. ### **Connect with Roxanne** [Website](https://www.roxannemunsonphotography.com/?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/RoxanneMunsonPhotography?ref=theblkgze.com) --- ## Add your voice [![CTA Image](https://cdn.mymidnight.blog/995665640dc319973d3173a74a03860c/2025/04/shaunconnellmumjpeg.jpeg)](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) Through **The Black Gaze*, we don’t just reflect the world, we reshape it. Your story matters. Share it. Honour it. Hold space for others. This is where truth lives and vision leads. We invite Black photographers to contribute in two meaningful ways through story and image. [Get started ](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) ### Joshua Drakes URL: https://www.theblkgze.com/q-and-a/joshua-drakes/ Last updated: 2025-04-18T18:51:02.000Z "To me, the Black gaze is to see Black culture through the eyes of black photographers. It matters as we often see the “White gaze” a lot in regards to Black culture and but when through a Black gaze, we can see the things missed, we can see more Blackness." — Joshua Drakes ### How does the Black gaze relate to your photography practice? As I do fashion photography and often tell stories through my imagery, when I have an idea that I want prominent Black people involved, I want that Blackness to come through the images. ### What do you want to say or address with your photography? That Black people are just as talented in photography as white people. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/ee395131-04a2-49e7-aaf5-23503b750990/Joshua-Drakes-2-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What influences and inspires you? How is this reflected in your work? Music, art, life itself. I have ideas inspired by my own mental health and thoughts. ### Who are your favourite Black photographers from the past? Why? Campbell Addy, Gordon Parks, Tyler Mitchel, AB+DM studio are just a few. They all create timeless work that I hope to create myself. ### Please describe the highs and lows of your experience as a Black photographer? The highs: getting chances to speak on being a Black photographer on platforms such as this one. The lows: losing out to opportunities. ### What work are you producing and what more would you like to do? I’m currently working on my outlet “Seeing Red” which I hope to eventually make a couple coffee table books with it. --- ## About Joshua Drakes Joshua Drakes is a Manchester-based photographer with a love for fashion photography, creating stories with his photography. Always putting a client friendly energy first and making teams feel comfortable, he is ready to create outstanding visuals for you. ### Connect with Joshua [Website](https://photosbyjrd.com/?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/photosbyjrd?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Twitter](https://www.twitter.com/JoshuaDrakes?ref=theblkgze.com) --- ## Add your voice [![CTA Image](https://cdn.mymidnight.blog/995665640dc319973d3173a74a03860c/2025/04/shaunconnellmumjpeg.jpeg)](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) Through **The Black Gaze*, we don’t just reflect the world, we reshape it. Your story matters. Share it. Honour it. Hold space for others. This is where truth lives and vision leads. We invite Black photographers to contribute in two meaningful ways through story and image. [Get started ](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) ### Kwame Koda URL: https://www.theblkgze.com/q-and-a/kwame-koda/ Last updated: 2025-04-18T18:54:51.000Z "To my understanding the Black gaze simply narrows down focus on Black artistes. I think it matters because it brings to light a different perspective of story telling from Black people, by Black people in a way that inspires and motivates Black excellence." — Kwame Koda ### How does the Black gaze relate to your photography practice? In relation to my practice it is of importance to me tell my story from my part of the world as a Black artist. Through the art of photography I am able to express myself visually by telling stories from my locality. ### What do you want to say or address with your photography? Every photograph for me is a statement, the main message for me is Peace, Beauty, Art, An Inspiration of excellence and a fictional transition into a place of sound mind. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/37d32ecd-14ee-4c01-aac7-73581d9591c3/Kwame-Koda-2-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What influences and inspires you? How is this reflected in your work? I am inspired by surrealism, fine art, the sea, palm trees, and the pairing of dramatic colours. My work is mainly influenced by my personal relations and emotions, as well as work from some of my favourite photographers. All these Influences and inspirations manifests itself in my work through the way the I make compositions and tell my stories by making use of these elements. ### Who are your favourite Black photographers from the past? Why? Joshua Kissi, Greg Noire and Tyler Mitchell have been my favourite black photographers due to their dynamic approach to photography. I have been able to learn so much and develop my own unique skill by paying close attention to details in their work and their style of photo editing. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/f214d6c9-44c6-4fd9-967d-47bb841e3b5d/Kwame-Koda-3-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### Please describe the highs and lows of your experience as a Black photographer? The goal has always been to make a statement with my art, at the beginning I started with phone photography which I did for two years. I moved into digital photography and I remember totally messing up my first paid gig as an event photography at the age of 18. It took me lot of mistakes and wrong moves to get where I am at the moment. I only see the picture getting bigger, the more I expose myself to my weakness the more I get better and that’s my main priority at the moment. ### What work are you producing and what more would you like to do? I am currently working on photography project about male masculinity to highlight the stories around modern day cancel-culture and it’s effect on men’s masculinity. I’d want to make a positive change in our modern society, within my locality with story telling through the art photography. I only see the message getting louder and clearer and I see it as a personal responsibility to pioneer this positive movement. --- ## About Kwame Koda Kwame Koda is a Ghanian-based photographer, creative director and entrepreneur who creates visual content for local and international brands. Kwame likes to tell stories through the unique art of conceptual photography. Kwame is also the co-founder of ‘Afrokosmo Magazine’, a news outlet created to promote African art and integrate Africa’s indigenous culture with the rest of the world through journalism. ### Connect with Kwame [Website](https://kwamekoda.com/?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/kwamekodah?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Twitter](https://www.twitter.com/kwamekoda?ref=theblkgze.com) --- ## Add your voice [![CTA Image](https://cdn.mymidnight.blog/995665640dc319973d3173a74a03860c/2025/04/shaunconnellmumjpeg.jpeg)](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) Through **The Black Gaze*, we don’t just reflect the world, we reshape it. Your story matters. Share it. Honour it. Hold space for others. This is where truth lives and vision leads. We invite Black photographers to contribute in two meaningful ways through story and image. [Get started ](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) ### Kim Vurzie URL: https://www.theblkgze.com/q-and-a/kim-vurzie/ Last updated: 2025-04-18T18:59:40.000Z "For me, it is a whole different world for Black creatives, reflecting the importance of art, how it represents our view of the world be it human behaviour, nature, etc, and the way it affects our lives as well. It matters because it gives me total control over how I choose to tell my stories." — Kim Vurzie ### How does the Black gaze relate to your photography practice? My photography is a virtual representation of how I see people and nature co-exist every day. There’s always a beautiful story to tell, and that for me is Black gaze. ### What do you want to say or address with your photography**?** I want people to see the most mundane things from different perspectives, feel every emotion that comes with it and can tell their own stories from it too. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/e5f12716-1c43-4de0-8db0-5875e831575a/Kim-Vurzie-2-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What influences and inspires you? How is this reflected in your work? People, music, art, books, poetry. They make me feel alive, I’m always painting a picture in my head, thus bringing them to life through my work. ### Who are your favourite Black photographers from the past? Why? To be honest, most of my favourite black photographers are still living legends. But I’ll always look up to the likes of Gordon Parks and Roy DeCarava, their works are very unique and intriguing — they help me see the importance of photography and storytelling. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/7e2e46ce-e440-4ed6-bdc4-93111acdf732/Kim-Vurzie-3-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### Please describe the highs and lows of your experience as a Black photographer? The lows are greater than the highs. I just need better gear to be honest. Using just a mobile phone can be very limiting, but baby steps ay. 🙂 ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/088d5970-61f3-4ae1-9ef7-50a4990e6aed/Kim-Vurzie-4-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What work are you producing and what more would you like to do? Currently, I’m working on a personal project – photographing people in their personal spaces. It has been amazing so far. --- ## About Kim Vurzie Kim Vurzie is a Nigerian wanna be poet and photographer with a very bright future ahead of her. Kim embraces the constraints of mobile photography to produce amazing images that exemplify the Black gaze. Kim’s poem, ‘Twenty Twenty, a Rollercoaster’ opens with: > “There are words in my heart, > I want to spill like fire from a volcano,” We look forward to Kim expressing those words visually. ### Connect with Kim [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/thevurzie%5Fslide?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Twitter](https://www.twitter.com/Vurzie%5FKim?ref=theblkgze.com) --- ## Add your voice [![CTA Image](https://cdn.mymidnight.blog/995665640dc319973d3173a74a03860c/2025/04/shaunconnellmumjpeg.jpeg)](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) Through **The Black Gaze*, we don’t just reflect the world, we reshape it. Your story matters. Share it. Honour it. Hold space for others. This is where truth lives and vision leads. We invite Black photographers to contribute in two meaningful ways through story and image. [Get started ](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) ### Dominique Terteweh URL: https://www.theblkgze.com/q-and-a/dominique-terteweh/ Last updated: 2025-04-18T19:05:09.000Z "The Black gaze is something that comes attached to a Black person when their experience has been exploited for the benefit other than Black people. My work appreciates the Black narratives that happens to shoot from the Black gaze. I don’t shoot only for the Black gaze, it’s just something that’s attached to Black creators and that something I cherish." — Dominique Terteweh ### How does the Black gaze relate to your photography practice? I make images in aesthetics that I want to see black people be apart of. I keep the black gaze in mind because I know we want move narratives then the ones that are forced on us. ### What do you want to say or address with your photography? My photographs reflect the memories I often overlook in my life. I hear this statement a lot from new photographers saying, “There’s nothing to photograph in my town/city, nothing is interesting,” and I totally disagree. I know it’s hard to take your life into consideration as art but you gave to find those little things in your life as inspirations and I find the joy in my simple life, as cheesy as it sounds LOL! ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/20218056-7858-436b-859c-385d1b9663ab/Dominique-Terteweh-2-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What influences and inspires you? How is this reflected in your work? There’s no limitation when it comes to inspirations from the people and to objects to me and oh my gosh being on social media, there is inspiration porn everywhere and to be honest it’s quite overwhelming. You have all of these aesthetics to choose from and sometimes it’s hard to pick from broad selections. That’s why I try to slow it down and try to take from my life and create my own aesthetic to create the simple things into art, like a painter. It’s easier to look at paintings for a simple reference because I can reflect those candid images in my life. ### Who are your favourite Black photographers from the past? Why? Who are your favourite black photographers from the past? Why? I adore the works of the G.O.A.T. Gordon Parks, the fabulous James Van Der Zee, and the beautiful Carrie Mae Weems. The portrayal of the people photographed, is shot so respectfully and obviously from the black gaze, if you were obvious of who the photographers were. Zee wanted to see black people in luxury and live lavish lives so that’s what he photographed. Parks wanted to bring light on the civil right issues and poverty so that’s what he photographed. Weens wanted to photograph family relationships so that’s what she photographed. There’s familiarity in the subject matters I can add perspective from my experiences. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/f9272926-dff5-4efb-a43f-c201392087be/Dominique-Terteweh-3-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### Please describe the highs and lows of your experience as a Black photographer? I haven’t gotten into photography seriously until late August of 2020 and in that time, I’ve been applying for internships and have been rejected from all of them. There aren’t a lot photography related internships I know around my area so I have applied to a lot of companies with predominantly white spaces and sometimes it makes me wonder if they rejected me because they think I’m unqualified because of my skin tone. The highs of being a black photographer is the build of community and support from other black photographers. There no other way to describe the feeling to be recognized from black photographers because no one else will. I was able to get more feedback on my work and improve from here. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/58b8c076-2f9e-4bba-92ae-0bb0219922ac/Dominique-Terteweh-4-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What work are you producing and what more would you like to do? I’m a senior in college and right now I’m working on my senior project which is based on taking portraits of students living in the dorms during a pandemic. I started on the project in January and will be done in late fall. This is my first big photography project and I’m excited to see the finish project. But I want to start my own personal projects over the summer time because I’m more confident and comfortable on photographing and I want to express that through projects. --- ## About Dominique Terteweh New Jersey-based Dominique Terteweh is college senior studying a B.F.A. in Photography. Dominique work focuses on documenting her surroundings and the people coming into her life at that point in time. ### Connect with Dominique [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/dominiqueterteweh?ref=theblkgze.com) --- ## Add your voice [![CTA Image](https://cdn.mymidnight.blog/995665640dc319973d3173a74a03860c/2025/04/shaunconnellmumjpeg.jpeg)](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) Through **The Black Gaze*, we don’t just reflect the world, we reshape it. Your story matters. Share it. Honour it. Hold space for others. This is where truth lives and vision leads. We invite Black photographers to contribute in two meaningful ways through story and image. [Get started ](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) ### Chris Facey URL: https://www.theblkgze.com/q-and-a/chris-facey/ Last updated: 2025-04-18T19:09:10.000Z "To me it means seeing the world through the eyes and experience of Black men and women. It matters because Black men and women experiences have always been dismissed and disrespected in society and it needs to change." — Chris Facey ### How does the Black gaze relate to your photography practice? It helps me to stay focused and remember that when showing the lives and telling the stories of my fellow Black people, to keep it honest. ### What do you want to say or address with your photography? I want to break down stereotypes and or stigmas placed on the Black community by society as well as bridge the gaps between communities to better understand and accept each other’s differences. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/7e76187e-dacf-43c3-9790-80766e08ae06/Chris-Facey-2-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What influences and inspires you? How is this reflected in your work? I’m heavily inspired by my daughter’s. I want to make sure I make work that they could be proud of. I make work that I hope helps better this world for their future. I also am inspired by a lot of the great Black photographers before who felt compelled to show and tell the world about the greatness of Black people and how the world treats Black people. It’s reflected in the work by me touching on issues that are in this world that they (my daughter’s) may have to unfortunately face in the future. If I can have a hand and helping a better future I’m all for it. ### Who are your favourite Black photographers from the past? Why? Don Hogan Charles, Gordon Parks and Roy DeCarava. There are so many more but for the sake of time, it’s those three. Their work has always been about showing the truth of Black men and women. During the time as photographers, they were heavily fighting for the right to be accepted as equal and seen as a human being. Their work showed you what being Black was and how the world treated you for being Black. It also showed you the joy and perseverance of Black people. If at least one of my photos can do that, I think I’m good. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/effddce0-366c-457a-80c0-d8a89820a637/Chris-Facey-3-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### Please describe the highs and lows of your experience as a Black photographer? A high is that I get to meet so many other Black photographers. It’s exciting sometimes. We share stories and experiences and it also feels good to know somebody relates. A low, for me, is when I don’t get any opportunities from publications that isn’t about “Black Issues”. Often times I think we get pigeonholed into only covering Black stories or photographing portraits of Black celebrities. Although its very necessary, we can do so much more. Give us the opportunity to photograph other stories and people from different communities. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/01abc36c-c36b-4ced-bfc0-5bd39aa8193c/Chris-Facey-4-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What work are you producing and what more would you like to do? Currently I’m working quite a few projects. My Dad Duty Project for starters. I’m still doing the Woman’s Safety project. Currently I’m working on a project with a fellow photographer on trying to bridge the gap between Black and Jewish communities here in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. I would love to photograph celebrity dads taking care of their family on their day to day. I’m looking at you, Diddy! Lol. I also would like to get cameras into the hands of today’s youth. I remember the adventures I had as a kid. It would have been way better if I knew anything about photography at the time. I want them to be able to have those memories and be able to refer back to them. --- ## About Chris Facey Chris Facey is a documentary and portrait photographer based in Brooklyn, NY. Chris has the ability to create images that are powerful yet tender. Inspired by the works of Gordon Parks and W. Eugene Smith, he documents communities with a softness and allows space for emotional depth, while still covering hard hitting issues such as the racial injustices in civil rights to Women’s Safety in New York City. With both vigour and a trained eye, Chris has been making work centering the Black community throughout his career. ### Connect with Chris [Website](https://www.cocobuttershutter.com/?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/Coco.butter.shutter//?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Twitter](http://www.twitter.com/Cocobuttrshuttr?ref=theblkgze.com) --- ## Add your voice [![CTA Image](https://cdn.mymidnight.blog/995665640dc319973d3173a74a03860c/2025/04/shaunconnellmumjpeg.jpeg)](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) Through **The Black Gaze*, we don’t just reflect the world, we reshape it. Your story matters. Share it. Honour it. Hold space for others. This is where truth lives and vision leads. We invite Black photographers to contribute in two meaningful ways through story and image. [Get started ](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) ### Aisha Bada URL: https://www.theblkgze.com/q-and-a/aisha-bada/ Last updated: 2025-04-18T19:14:45.000Z "The Black gaze means identifying Black people for who they are. It’s important because Black people are Black for a reason and they shouldn’t be looked at weirdly. Knowing who they are and treating them as humans is key." — Aisha Bada ### How does the Black gaze relate to your photography practice? I am a person of colour and I love to photograph black people too. I know who these people are and I let them be themselves. ### What do you want to say or address with your photography? I want people to just breathe after having a feeling of being heard. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/52400ad4-24a6-47ec-95fc-fd251ffcca93/Aisha-Bada-2-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What influences and inspires you? How is this reflected in your work? I am inspired greatly by my grandfather who passed away in 2020\. He inspired me to want to genuinely help others especially when they have medical/health problems because he had one that I couldn’t help him with before he left. ### Who are your favourite Black photographers from the past? Why? I don’t really know black photographers from the past but I have one black photographer of mine that I really admire. He’s my mentor. His name is Jide Alakija. Interestingly I call him my old man lol. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/fe9c765e-0308-48cc-9020-93a6bd579be3/Aisha-Bada-3-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### Please describe the highs and lows of your experience as a Black photographer? The fear of photographing on the street is one thing. I haven’t been able to do that in a while. As a black photographer in Nigeria, other black people mostly don’t want to be photographed too which is also a huge challenge. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/637a5e18-9b3f-416d-b2d7-31c35da1dbb2/Aisha-Bada-4-TheBlkGze-QA.jpeg) ### What work are you producing and what more would you like to do? I am currently working on two projects, one would take months so I’d probably release it in 2021 while the other one is a long term project i started in 2020\. I don’t know when I’ll release that one, I don’t have a date in mind. --- ## About Aisha Bada Aisha Bada is a medical doctor in training and photojournalist based in Lagos, Nigeria; her work is inspired by a passion to tell visual stories that would create awareness of various environmental, medical and health issues. ### Connect with Aisha [Website](http://www.aishabada.com/?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/aisha%5Fbada?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Twitter](https://www.twitter.com/aisha%5Fbada%5F?ref=theblkgze.com) --- ## Add your voice [![CTA Image](https://cdn.mymidnight.blog/995665640dc319973d3173a74a03860c/2025/04/shaunconnellmumjpeg.jpeg)](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) Through **The Black Gaze*, we don’t just reflect the world, we reshape it. Your story matters. Share it. Honour it. Hold space for others. This is where truth lives and vision leads. We invite Black photographers to contribute in two meaningful ways through story and image. [Get started ](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) ### Tope Ajayi URL: https://www.theblkgze.com/q-and-a/tope-ajayi/ Last updated: 2025-04-18T19:20:00.000Z "The Black gaze is laying bare every element of existence and telling actual stories of what we feel about the world ourselves as Black people. It’s important to me because I get the opportunity to tell these stories too, through my lens." — Tope Ajayi ### How does the Black gaze relate to your photography practice? ‘Cause I like breaking conventions and stereotypes while telling stories, that is the common ground. ### What do you want to say or address with your photography? I want to capture the Black experience, and tell stories about existence and vulnerability. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/55bb108a-f9f6-4cf8-8464-c59132550784/Tope-Ajayi-2-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What influences and inspires you? How is this reflected in your work? The concept of the universe and our place within it inspires and this has slowly pushed me everyday to engage my art in telling people why we are here. ### Who are your favourite Black photographers from the past? Why? John H. White. His work is timeless, which is what I hope to do with mine. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/f77b8453-aeeb-4332-a76f-b3f00a2f0031/Tope-Ajayi-1-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### Please describe the highs and lows of your experience as a Black photographer? Highs: When I get the deserved accolades for the amount of work I put into my craft. Lows: Lack of access to the right opportunities and resources to create sometimes. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/67b73ff2-e172-4a1d-b31f-6abf52f8e172/Tope-Ajayi-4-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What work are you producing and what more would you like to do? I’m presently working on several series opening up on the human condition, vulnerability and existence. --- ## About Tope Ajayi Tope Ajayi is a multi-faceted, multimedia Nigerian artist with a primary interest in time-based art. His art reflects the themes of the black experience, Afro-futurism and Afro-surrealism with larger subjects as the universe and our place within it. His work process is deeply spiritual, sometimes, experimental. But, very practical. ### Connect with Tope [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/thetopeajayi?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Twitter](https://www.twitter.com/iamtopeajayi?ref=theblkgze.com) --- ## Add your voice [![CTA Image](https://cdn.mymidnight.blog/995665640dc319973d3173a74a03860c/2025/04/shaunconnellmumjpeg.jpeg)](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) Through **The Black Gaze*, we don’t just reflect the world, we reshape it. Your story matters. Share it. Honour it. Hold space for others. This is where truth lives and vision leads. We invite Black photographers to contribute in two meaningful ways through story and image. [Get started ](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) ### Julie Héron URL: https://www.theblkgze.com/q-and-a/julie-heron/ Last updated: 2025-04-18T19:24:10.000Z "We finally get to see the world through Black eyes. It is so important to have the point of view and perspective of people who are used to being photographed and not be the photographers." — Julie Héron ### How does the Black gaze relate to your photography practice? I am doing mostly travelling photography. I did a lot of architecture and outdoor. As a French Black woman, I didn’t get to see a lot of people who look like me, from where I am from, doing the kind of photography that I am doing. I am not saying they don’t exist though. I want to make sure that travelling photography is not only about one perspective. ### What do you want to say or address with your photography? I am not really sure of what I want to address, to be honest. I think maybe, to welcome people into my world for a little while. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/87ea4e3d-2857-468e-8ab2-a036dea57fb8/Julie-Heron-2-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What influences and inspires you? How is this reflected in your work? Colours and nuances are a major part of what’s moving me. I currently lives in Portugal and the lights here is one of the best I have ever seen so far. ### Who are your favourite Black photographers from the past? Why? I recently discovered Gordon Parks and I love his work. I don’t have lot of knowledge regarding former Black photographers. I was born and raised in France and the Black culture is not as visible as it can be in the US or in UK. We have been feed from the narrative that we are all the same but at the same time we are erased from the photography scene. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/69477579-5730-4bfa-b996-5dfc7f11d606/Julie-Heron-3-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### Please describe the highs and lows of your experience as a Black photographer? For me, the highs are when I discover another photography style. It’s usually happening every 3 to 6 months. Then my work is all about it for the next 3 months. The lows are the moment of self-doubt. In the time of likes culture, sometimes it gets difficult to be happy with your work when it feels like your work is not enough appreciated. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/39389027-9b00-4a59-91f8-9546214eb4a7/Julie-Heron-4-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What work are you producing and what more would you like to do? I am doing mostly outdoors, architecture and landscapes. I also recently tried macro. In the future I would love to do more portraits and life events. --- ## About Julie Héron Julie Héron is a French traveller and photographer based in Lisbon, Portugal. en making work centering the Black community throughout his career. ### Connect with Julie [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/julieheronphotography?ref=theblkgze.com) --- ## Add your voice [![CTA Image](https://cdn.mymidnight.blog/995665640dc319973d3173a74a03860c/2025/04/shaunconnellmumjpeg.jpeg)](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) Through **The Black Gaze*, we don’t just reflect the world, we reshape it. Your story matters. Share it. Honour it. Hold space for others. This is where truth lives and vision leads. We invite Black photographers to contribute in two meaningful ways through story and image. [Get started ](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) ### Darnell Temenu URL: https://www.theblkgze.com/q-and-a/darnell-temenu/ Last updated: 2025-04-18T21:52:20.000Z "The Black gaze means to express, inspire and create from your own unique point of view in the world, without any limitations or boundaries." — Darnell Temenu ### How does the Black gaze relate to your photography practice? Exploration is a huge part of my photography, I love to travel and document new places, meet new people and understand new cultures. The generation before us didn’t have the luxury and freedom that we do when it comes to exploring freely and making connections around the world so easily as we do now, I feel it’s a duty we have now to use this to it’s fullest. ### What do you want to say or address with your photography? I want people to look at my images and be inspired in some way, shape or form, creativity is the purest form of energy in the world and I believe everyone should tap into it. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/21488cd7-830b-47a5-ab36-fc45d9d05589/Darnell-Temenu-2-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What influences and inspires you? How is this reflected in your work? The everyday inspires me, maybe a series I’ve watched, an album I’ve listened to, a restaurant I ate at, a theatre show I went to – everything is a source of inspiration. My images are very spontaneous for the most part, such as life is. I tend to walk and talk with my models whilst finding spots to shoot. ### Who are your favourite Black photographers from the past? Why? Chi Modu for sure! If you don’t know who he is please google him I’m sure you’ve seen his images before. He’s documented artists such as Tupac, Biggie, Snoop Dogg, Mobb Deep and many others. And what really drew me to his work is how natural the images were he got a-lot of candids of them in their natural elements which humanised these larger than life characters. His travel work in Nigeria, Bangladesh, Burma & Syria is also really inspiring and really showed me that your camera can take you to places you’d never imagine and open conversations you may not have been able to do without it. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/5445039e-3cf6-4f4f-8251-74f8e63ec5f3/Darnell-Temenu-3-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### Please describe the highs and lows of your experience as a Black photographer? I’d honestly say I’ve experienced a majority of highs as my experience of being a black photographer and the lows are all learning experiences. Being black British of Nigerian descent it’s allowed me to instantly connect with others within my space opening up various opportunities from people with similar backgrounds to me, I’ve been in Hong Kong and connected with Nigerians out there simply because of where we come from it’s one of the best feelings. I’d say for lows sometimes I’d say even though being black is one of the biggest parts of my identity I’d like to just be seen as a photographer sometimes and not championed because of the colour of my skin. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/83466028-8f30-4aba-b96a-1d4032bca8e2/Darnell-Temenu-4-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What work are you producing and what more would you like to do? At the moment I’m working on a-lot of fashion and portrait work, I’m trying to work with more magazines and produce more editorial style work. I’m also putting a huge focus on my YouTube channel at the moment as I think it’s a great space to expand your creativity, document your process and inspire others. --- ## About Darnell Temenu Darnell Temenu is a freelance fashion and portrait photographer and content creator based in London, England. His growing YouTube channel offers great insights into how he approaches his photography work. ### Connect with Darnell [Website](https://www.darnelltemenu.co.uk/?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/darnelltemenu/?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Twitter](http://www.twitter.com/darnelltemenu?ref=theblkgze.com) --- ## Add your voice [![CTA Image](https://cdn.mymidnight.blog/995665640dc319973d3173a74a03860c/2025/04/shaunconnellmumjpeg.jpeg)](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) Through **The Black Gaze*, we don’t just reflect the world, we reshape it. Your story matters. Share it. Honour it. Hold space for others. This is where truth lives and vision leads. We invite Black photographers to contribute in two meaningful ways through story and image. [Get started ](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) ### Karis Beaumont URL: https://www.theblkgze.com/q-and-a/karis-beaumont/ Last updated: 2025-04-18T19:33:06.000Z "Being a photographer comes with responsibility, so for me the Black gaze means telling our stories without confusion or harm to our community. Intention is important." — Karis Beaumont ### How does the Black gaze relate to your photography practice? We’re all made and wired uniquely, which means our perspectives are too. My approach in life is ‘anything can be beautiful when you look at it with love’, so this is how I approach my work. I’m a storyteller who tries to capture emotion, which requires a lot of transparency and care. ### What do you want to say or address with your photography? I want to show a non-monolithic portrayal of Blackness. I’m a Black woman from a small town in Hertfordshire and through my experiences, I’ve observed that Black communities from outside of London are left out of the conversation a lot when speaking about Black British culture. There’s a lot of misunderstanding and misconceptions within our communities at times, so the work I do \[Bumpkin Files\] aims to provide more representation, visibility and storytelling around unheard Black communities across the UK and Ireland mainly. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/a44a70b7-969f-4bd5-9754-f7fc6679719e/Karis-Beaumont-2-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What influences and inspires you? How is this reflected in your work? Nostalgia inspires me in many ways as it comes with a range of emotions. When creating I try to capture as much authenticity and essence as I can. My Jamaican heritage inspires me also, from our style, music, lingo to traditions and histories. ### Who are your favourite Black photographers from the past? Why? There are so many present day photographers who inspire me, but the Black photographers from the past? Vanley Burke. The way he dedicated his work to documenting the communities in Birmingham and the Afro-Caribbean diaspora in Britain. It’s so important to document the people and events around us, as histories can get lost and forgotten. Burke’s work was definitely an influence for me to start Bumpkin Files. I also love the works of Kwame Brathwaite, James Barnor and Malik Sadibe. They really captured the beauty and depth in their work in an artistic way. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/311d01a3-1865-4891-8fec-26af66b13ba1/Karis-Beaumont-3-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### Please describe the highs and lows of your experience as a Black photographer? I’ve experienced more highs than lows, but highs – having many positive, thought-provoking stories around me to document and share. Lows – lack of commissioned work. It’s easy to get overlooked in a white AND male dominated industry. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/f811d232-07b9-4da6-8ddf-500dbce6677e/Karis-Beaumont-4-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What work are you producing and what more would you like to do? I’m currently focusing on Bumpkin Files content, with the aim of exhibiting work, and getting press and community attention. I’d love to work on more commercial and editorial fashion/music projects. It allows me to learn more about the craft through experimentation and working with teams. --- ## About Karis Beaumont Karis Beaumont is a self-taught photographer based in Hertfordshire. With the primary focus on culture + authenticity, she aims to produce emotive imagery through portraiture, fashion + documentary photography. Alongside photography, Karis is the founder and curator of [Bumpkin Files](https://www.bumpkinfiles.com/?ref=theblkgze.com), a submissions-based archive, journal + multimedia platform centred around Black life in Britain beyond the London-centric narrative. ### Connect with Karis [Website](https://www.karisbeaumont.com/?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/karisbeau/?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Twitter](http://www.twitter.com/karisbeau?ref=theblkgze.com) --- ## Add your voice [![CTA Image](https://cdn.mymidnight.blog/995665640dc319973d3173a74a03860c/2025/04/shaunconnellmumjpeg.jpeg)](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) Through **The Black Gaze*, we don’t just reflect the world, we reshape it. Your story matters. Share it. Honour it. Hold space for others. This is where truth lives and vision leads. We invite Black photographers to contribute in two meaningful ways through story and image. [Get started ](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) ### Anselm Ebulue URL: https://www.theblkgze.com/q-and-a/anselm-ebulue/ Last updated: 2025-04-18T19:39:31.000Z "I see the Black gaze as an alternate or oppositional perspective and viewpoint on account of my/our own experiences and reality. But it also requires work. It requires a certain vigilance and an understanding that the dominant way of perceiving anything is often at the cost of Black people." — Anselm Ebulue ### How does the Black gaze relate to your photography practice? If I take this into account then it requires me to ask questions of myself and my motives, to question who the work is for, whose reception of the work is most important and to look at the ways I represent anything in the frame, whether they are people or even just themes or symbols. ### What do you want to say or address with your photography? At present, due to the project I’m currently working on I’m interested in how I apply introspection to what I communicate through my work. It’s an ongoing headache. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/60b5c6a8-05b0-4575-bb52-31d27f85919b/Anselm-Ebulue-2-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What influences and inspires you? How is this reflected in your work? I like to read when I can. I read a lot of non-fiction, I’m interested in history and philosophy. I’ve started to read more poetry too, which I think shares some parallels with photography in how you can communicate more than what is physically in the frame or the ink on the page in such a way that feels profound and striking. Those parallels are things I think about when I’m walking around and thinking about why I want to put my camera in a particular spot. ### Who are your favourite Black photographers from the past? Why? To be honest, the majority of my favourite Black photographers are still working today, but I like the work of Gordon Parks, Roy DeCarava and Rotimi Fani-Kayode. I consider myself mostly ignorant to a lot of the work out there by Black image makers and that’s in a large part due to the nature of Western education. So I’m always keen to discover Black artists I’m not aware of. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/d39a7b66-91aa-4791-9e9c-70c905b2aa1f/Anselm-Ebulue-3-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### Please describe the highs and lows of your experience as a Black photographer? Ironically I wouldn’t have been able to progress as far as I have as a photographer if I hadn’t been made redundant a couple of years ago. Essentially the lows stem from constant self-doubt as well as the understanding that it’s extremely difficult to make a living as a photographer and that it probably isn’t sustainable for me. I’ve had some really wholesome moments over the last couple of years, but really the highs stem from whenever I’m working, whether on assignment or on personal work and recently in connecting with more photographers over the past year through social media and feeling part of a larger network. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/a401dd9c-f0aa-4ed7-80f2-5215023b79cb/Anselm-Ebulue-4-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What work are you producing and what more would you like to do? I’m currently working on a project about my personal relationship with the the area I grew up in. My hope is to study a Master’s degree later this year. --- ## About Anselm Ebulue London-based Anselm Ebulue is a portrait and documentary photographer. He was a winner in the 2018 Portrait of Britain award and was featured in the accompanying book published by Hoxton Mini Press. He is a regular contributor for The Guardian and was awarded the 2019 scholarship for the Magnum Intensive Documentary short course. He was recently selected as a winner in the 2020 Portrait of Britain award. ### Connect with Anselm [Website](https://www.anselmebulue.com/?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/anselm.ebulue?ref=theblkgze.com) --- ## Add your voice [![CTA Image](https://cdn.mymidnight.blog/995665640dc319973d3173a74a03860c/2025/04/shaunconnellmumjpeg.jpeg)](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) Through **The Black Gaze*, we don’t just reflect the world, we reshape it. Your story matters. Share it. Honour it. Hold space for others. This is where truth lives and vision leads. We invite Black photographers to contribute in two meaningful ways through story and image. [Get started ](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) ### Abigail Ekue URL: https://www.theblkgze.com/all/abigail-ekue/ Last updated: 2025-04-18T18:03:58.000Z "As a Black woman, everything I shoot is from the Black gaze but not exclusively FOR the Black gaze. When my work is viewed and provokes, it’s proof that the Black gaze doesn’t have to be ‘othered’. There’s art, there’s substance, there’s empathy, there’s skill, there’s passion, there’s the avant-garde in the Black gaze." — Abigail Ekue ### How does the Black gaze relate to your photography practice? I create images/portraits that I want to see. I don’t approach any photo shoot with “the black gaze” in mind. I shoot as Abigail — a female photographer and a Black photographer. I shoot from a Black gaze and a female gaze. ### What do you want to say or address with your photography? With my photography I am documenting moments, synchronicities, and emotion. I also want to address the representation of Black people in front of the camera too. I’ve actively and passively sought Black men for my “Bare Men” series and that’s still a journey. In 2010, I made preliminary moves on the “Emotional Black Male” series and the same with a father portrait series in 2016\. Both are social representations I still want to address. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/49782ce2-3490-48f4-98e4-72f925cac668/Abigail-Ekue-2-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What influences and inspires you? How is this reflected in your work? I’m inspired by my curiosity in how people live, what their experiences are. I love stepping into other communities and subcultures. My visual presentation is influenced by cinema and film noir. I love juxtaposition. ### Who are your favourite Black photographers from the past? Why? Gordon Parks, Carrie Mae Weems, Gordon Parks and Alex Harsley. Each time I view their work, I’m struck by it. There’s a familiarity — in the subject matter and style. It’s confirmation that we’re all connected. I’m extremely lucky to have met Alex Harsley on numerous occasions at his 4th Street Photo Gallery here in NY and introduce him and his work to many of my clients. A couple of contemporary Black photographers who are faves of mine: Deena Lawson and Aeric Meredith-Goujon. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/127bea0e-6cfd-4339-8ddd-e4ca7cf5a99d/Abigail-Ekue-3-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### Please describe the highs and lows of your experience as a Black photographer? My experience as a Black photographer has been one of being “the only” — is that a high or a low? However, being recognised for my photographic work is a high. Exhibits and publications have been definite highs. So is being interviewed and cited in a couple of graduate theses. And the random mention or link here and there — lets you know people are watching. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/497fbc88-4aae-47c6-b767-9cdd821d5b55/Abigail-Ekue-4-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What work are you producing and what more would you like to do? My current work is the portrait series, “Black in Black & White” and when travel is safe and convenient again, I want to get back to my “SHE Rides” series. Going forward I want more commissions. I want more gallery exhibits, more curatorial assignments and more of my work purchased by more collectors. I’d also like to do more video. I jumped into that medium through my “Interracial Couples Project” and enjoyed the process and appreciated my learning curve. --- ## About Abigail Ekue Abigail Ekue is a New York-based photographer. Her primary body of work includes portrait, editorial and nude photography with a focus on gender, social representation, body positivity and sexuality. Abigail holds up the mirror to her clients, helping them see the beautiful nuances and emotions of everyday life through evocative storytelling through my photos. ### Connect with Abigail [Website](https://www.abigailekuephotography.com/?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/nativecreative%5Fphoto?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Twitter](http://www.twitter.com/abigailwrites?ref=theblkgze.com) --- ## Add your voice [![CTA Image](https://cdn.mymidnight.blog/995665640dc319973d3173a74a03860c/2025/04/shaunconnellmumjpeg.jpeg)](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) Through **The Black Gaze*, we don’t just reflect the world, we reshape it. Your story matters. Share it. Honour it. Hold space for others. This is where truth lives and vision leads. We invite Black photographers to contribute in two meaningful ways through story and image. [Get started ](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) ### Ibarionex Perello URL: https://www.theblkgze.com/q-and-a/ibarionex-perello/ Last updated: 2025-04-18T18:00:51.000Z "For me, this involves taking ownership of how we see ourselves, especially through works of art (photography, writing, painting, music, etc). It’s about reclaiming how we choose to be identified, seen and related to." — Ibarionex Perello ### How does the Black gaze relate to your photography practice? My photography reaffirms that my experiences, my life and the way that I see the world matter. Even if it doesn’t reflect what most media showcases and promotes, my perspective, especially through my photography, has value and worth. ### What do you want to say or address with your photography? I hope to to install in the viewer that there is nothing that should be easily dismissed. Whether it’s a scene or people, there is value to be had. All that’s required is a shift in perspective. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/f4290d53-9725-4e9a-b09a-1bc19e46c2d9/Ibarionex-Perello-2-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What influences and inspires you? How is this reflected in your work? Countless photographers. They have all challenged the way that I see and photograph the world. They helped me to explore ways of photographing that I would never have considered otherwise. ### Who are your favourite Black photographers from the past? Why? Gordon Parks, Roy DeCarava and Howard Bingham are legends in photography. Each defined photography on their own terms, creating images that documented and elevated their subjects in beautiful and stunning ways. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/3e2736bb-e560-451a-bbca-116fb5d2fd99/Ibarionex-Perello-3-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### Please describe the highs and lows of your experience as a Black photographer? The highs are usually the next opportunity that I get to make an image. The process is as intoxicating to me know as when I first made a photograph. The lows have often involved moments when I compromised what I knew was right for myself or my work to accommodate someone else. The results were never satisfying. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/6b543e9a-f6e5-4562-8a9c-d4e3db0ae037/Ibarionex-Perello-4-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What work are you producing and what more would you like to do? I’m always working on projects. I am currently beginning work on another book of photography as well as some personal documentary photo projects. --- ## About Ibarionex Perello Ibarionex Perello is a photographer, writer, educator and host of The Candid Frame Photography podcast. He has over 25 years of experience in the photographic industry. In his role as host and producer of The Candid Frame, he provides frank, insightful interviews with some of the industry’s top established and emerging photographers. To date he has featured well over 500 conversations with photographers about what it means to lead a creative life. ### Connect with Ibarionex [Website](https://www.ibarionex.net/?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/ibarionex/?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Twitter](http://www.twitter.com/Ibarionex?ref=theblkgze.com) --- ## Add your voice [![CTA Image](https://cdn.mymidnight.blog/995665640dc319973d3173a74a03860c/2025/04/shaunconnellmumjpeg.jpeg)](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) Through **The Black Gaze*, we don’t just reflect the world, we reshape it. Your story matters. Share it. Honour it. Hold space for others. This is where truth lives and vision leads. We invite Black photographers to contribute in two meaningful ways through story and image. [Get started ](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) ### Chin We URL: https://www.theblkgze.com/q-and-a/chin-we/ Last updated: 2025-04-18T17:55:41.000Z "The Black gaze means a celebration of Black perspectives in photography. It matters to me because Black is my identity." — Chin We ### How does the Black gaze relate to your photography practice? It relates to my photography practice because my work explores themes of black identity, representation, culture, heritage and the African diaspora. ### What do you want to say or address with your photography? I want to address more of social and cultural identity. I love covering stories that showcase less reported aspects of Black culture and identity. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/29eafcc2-06a8-4a05-b8f1-20d0fa4cba37/Chin-We-2-TheBlkGze+QA.jpeg) ### What influences and inspires you? How is this reflected in your work? My heritage influences and inspires me. My heritage is Igbo and Nigerian. This is reflected in my work through the articulation of identity thorough photography and film. ### Who are your favourite Black photographers from the past? Why? My favourite Black photographers are Seydou Keita and Malick Sidibe. Their black and white images chronicling the lives and culture of the Malian capital Bamako in the wake of the country’s independence in 1960. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/09f6e412-f38d-4a53-8e00-232878d841fd/Chin-We-3-TheBlkGze+QA.jpeg) ### Please describe the highs and lows of your experience as a Black photographer? The lows of my experience with Black photography is the \[lack of\] visibility of Black photographers in the UK. The highs are that we are magic! We are visionaries! We are amazing! ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/6c80b23f-7483-4a1b-abb5-be45d85dfcb7/Chin-We-4-TheBlkGze+QA.jpeg) ### What work are you producing and what more would you like to do? I am working on a project titled “Sis” A visual series documenting our personal experiences and emotions during the coronavirus outbreak and lockdown. The impact of Coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak and lockdown is having a huge toll on our mental health and wellbeing causing us to feel anxious, stressed, worried and depressed. --- ## About Chin We Chin We is an award winning visual artist, curator and art making philosopher. Her work has been published on CNN and several other publications. She was featured on CNN as one of the leading African heroine women photographers, nominated for RPS 100 heroines by the Royal Photographic Society England and won an honourable mention award in the People-Portrait Category in International Photography Awards(IPA) 2018. Chin We is also a known to have more moves than an Estate Agent. ### Connect [Website](https://chinwe.me/?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/chinwe.me?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Twitter](http://www.twitter.com/chinw%5Fe?ref=theblkgze.com) --- ## Add your voice [![CTA Image](https://cdn.mymidnight.blog/995665640dc319973d3173a74a03860c/2025/04/shaunconnellmumjpeg.jpeg)](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) Through **The Black Gaze*, we don’t just reflect the world, we reshape it. Your story matters. Share it. Honour it. Hold space for others. This is where truth lives and vision leads. We invite Black photographers to contribute in two meaningful ways through story and image. [Get started ](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) ### Ayesha Kazim URL: https://www.theblkgze.com/all/ayesha-kazim/ Last updated: 2025-04-18T17:51:00.000Z "The Black gaze means taking ownership of the narrative and establishing a space for Black creatives to create and disseminate their own stories in anyway they so choose." — Ayesha Kazim ### How does the Black gaze relate to your photography practice? As a Black female photographer, my experience and navigation of the Black gaze is coupled with my experiences as a woman working in the industry. The stories I create aim to provide a source of inspiration and reflection not only for fellow Black artists, but also for women of colour who seek guidance and often lack representation within the photography world. ### What do you want to say or address with your photography? My creative practice has been cultivated by my international background, having grown up between South Africa and the United States, and living in various countries across the globe during my formative years. As a result, past experiences inform my desire to depict multi-layered narratives within my art. Through image-making, I aim to portray people of colour in positions of strength and power, while also evoking a sense of vulnerability. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/cef6ec33-816d-4503-9372-840cd40841ac/Ayesha-Kazim-2-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What influences and inspires you? How is this reflected in your work? I draw a lot of inspiration from cinema, art exhibitions, and my environment. Most of the time when I begin a project, I start by scouting out the location and will then build the styling, makeup, and subjects based on this, as it sets the stage for the atmosphere or mood I am trying to convey. ### Who are your favourite Black photographers from the past? Why? I really admire the work of Zanele Muholi and Malick Sidibé. I constantly find myself trying to emulate their styles within my portraiture. For the past year or so, I have been interning with an archival organization called PCPP where I have had the opportunity to work first-hand with the photography of the Kamoinge Workshop. In combing through the archive of Shawn Walker, my understanding and appreciation of documentary photography has greatly evolved. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/df9b5ab2-26ae-446a-bd59-8c9b16d2d1d9/Ayesha-Kazim-3-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### Please describe the highs and lows of your experience as a Black photographer? Right now, I am at a place in my career where I am about to graduate from art school and enter the world of freelancing full time. The lows for me at the moment revolve mainly around being uncertain of the future and how I am going to navigate the photography industry moving forward. I consider myself to be a pretty optimistic person, and with that I think there are many highs. I am in a space mentally where I am proud of the work I am creating and feel confident in my ability to turn this passion into a career. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/3d682f15-acf3-41df-8ad4-7041b272912d/Ayesha-Kazim-4-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What work are you producing and what more would you like to do? I am currently working on finalizing my documentary project for my Senior Thesis. Titled, “This Home of Ours,” this series highlights the experiences of individuals from the Bo Kaap community in Cape Town, South Africa. I am also working on building up my fashion/editorial portfolio so that I can begin reaching out to more publications oriented towards this style. --- ## About Ayesha Ayesha Kazim is a freelance photographer working between New York City and Cape Town, South Africa. Her photographic practice involves producing clean, refined portraits that bring a fresh, lively energy to her subjects through colourful, yet coordinated settings and styling. Ayesha has worked with a wide range of clients and publications including MarketWatch, PHMuseum, Analog Forever Magazine, Vogue Italia, Kaltblut Magazine, Diversify Photo, Girlgaze, Everyday Africa, CRWNMAG, Humble Arts Foundation, and Art and Type Magazine. ### Connect with Ayesha [Website](https://www.ayeshakazim.com/?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/ayeshachasm?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Twitter](http://www.twitter.com/ayeshachasm?ref=theblkgze.com) --- ## Add your voice [![CTA Image](https://cdn.mymidnight.blog/995665640dc319973d3173a74a03860c/2025/04/shaunconnellmumjpeg.jpeg)](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) Through **The Black Gaze*, we don’t just reflect the world, we reshape it. Your story matters. Share it. Honour it. Hold space for others. This is where truth lives and vision leads. We invite Black photographers to contribute in two meaningful ways through story and image. [Get started ](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) ### John Ferguson URL: https://www.theblkgze.com/all/john-ferguson/ Last updated: 2025-04-18T17:51:36.000Z "The term Black gaze signifies to me that I’m unapologetically Black… When one learns the Black gaze for themselves, they’re purposely allowing their presence to be seen, heard and challenged, with or without prejudice." — John Ferguson ### What does the Black gaze mean to you? We, as Black people are continually being analysed and watched, And for many, this can bring resentment and anger, but for others, it can also bring anxieties and insecurities from continuously being monitored, observed; questioning our self-identity. As Black people, we tend to ‘code-switch’ from our natural, cultural persona, when surrounded or aiming to simulate into an all-white environment. Our voice can change, our dress changes, we tend to have to present ourselves in a way that’s acceptable for the ‘white audience’ one that’s pleasing for, and fits into this ‘white space’. The world is a large ‘white space’, so for many black people having to code-switch from our natural, cultural stance is now a subconscious natural occurrence. For those who cannot or choose not to ‘code-switch’ they tend to stay in their own communities, they find comfort being around their own ‘kind’ rather than traverse the sometimes confusing ‘invisible’ code of conduct. The ‘white gaze’ is omnipresent, we conform to unquestionable white bias without even realising. The white gaze adds specific pressures, predetermined and subconscious ways for black people to act in public. When one learns the Black gaze for themselves, they’re purposely allowing their presence to be seen, heard and challenged, with or without prejudice. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/c05a2e80-d376-4ab5-becb-7d885484c49c/John-Ferguson-2-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### How does the Black gaze relate to your photography practice? My first major personal photographic work originally stemmed from a place of pure altruism. This quiet voice wanted in my own way to redress a seemingly unjust system and attitude that was being levelled against my community. But not having the words to articulate my anger and upset or the confidence to voice my concerns, I chose the tools that I have at my disposal, I wanted my images to speak for themselves and for me. Today, however, with the added advantage of age and experience, my work as now taken on a more purposeful and directional path. Still community, cultural and sub culturally based, I’m looking at smaller groups, individuals and concerns. These projects are not wholly representative of the Black communities, but projects that serve everyone, and which allows me to pursue my interest for social impact agendas and their causes; stories that suffer from a lack of voice, understanding or language. Whether it be working with the blind community, the elderly, or illustrating rural poverty. ### What do you want to say or address with your photography? There are so many things that I’d like to address with my photography. But I think for me, the paramount consideration with which I’d like people to take from my work, is that there is so much more in and around us, so much more for us to reflect on, and right under our noses. I am a ‘people’ photographer; I can see and recognise the beauty of a landscape or urban photograph, but I see more much beauty in a constructed photograph of a human being. I believe that particular photographers have a mission in life; to visualise certain aspects of our society, indeed the world around us. Using their talent, nuanced and unique perspective, these are the storytellers that I relate to. Photographers that sometimes even risk there lives to bring us these untold stories, the unseen situations and the unheard or quiet voices, visualising stories, whether from half-way around the world or from across the street. We need these photographers. But above all, we need Black photographers. Those who would tell our own stories, not only for and from today but also for our future history. To bring our own perspective into the ‘white space’ without apology, and without the baggage of history, we need new dialogue, we need a modern interpretation, but above all, we need our unique voices to be heard today and beyond. Indeed, we are robbed of our own particular viewpoints when we don’t have black photographers to illustrate our perspective narrative, articulating the Black aesthetic visually is critical in allowing our voice to resonate with the broader world. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/35d80cfe-5fda-4572-a6e7-b02a9ea00f32/John-Ferguson-3-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What influences and inspires you? How is this reflected in your work? My photographic preference is and always will be, my love for working within the theme of environmental portraiture. This applies to whether it’s a sports portrait, fine art or documentary, for me, it all comes from a platform of visual storytelling. I love ‘people’ images and especially those which involve a narrative, something that draws me into a story, an environment or situation, I’m looking to give the viewer small cues into the subjects persona, their lives, their occupation and maybe even their thoughts. I love descriptive images, subjective images, one’s which allows the viewer to form their own conclusions about the subject or the person in that particular moment. To take this to its extremes, I love the work of Don McCullin and his work in Vietnam. Although documentary in its style, he manages to evoke real tension, intrigue, a full story in one frame, either portrait or ‘action’ shot. While you might say that’s to easy as he’s working in a war zone, but I don’t subscribe to that, it’s a skill, and ability to read and convey that situation perfectly on film and in a split second. The first image that caught my imagination and precipitated my journey into photography was the famous image taken by the great American sports photographer Neil Leifer. It was of Muhammed Ali beckoning the fallen Sonny Liston off the canvas. This image, along with the backstory of the two fighters had everything a Hollywood film could want; the mafia, murder, intrigue, conspiracy theories, the two fights and Ali himself. A fantastic story, all rolled into one single image. Bringing this appreciation of storytelling, working within communities and sub-cultures or groups, is reflected in my work. I’m always on the lookout for exciting contexts, either simple or complex, ones which have ‘community’ at the centre of the story. ### Who are your favourite Black photographers from the past? Why? It’s sad to say that there aren’t too many Black photographers that have truly inspired me. I remember seeing a large photographic book by a Black American photographer who had chronicled an entire Black town, it must have been in the early 20th century. He photographed everything from church gatherings to the college football and baseball team groups and so much more. He also photographed many individuals and the general day to day world of this seemingly Black only town, in such clarity and detail. I was first struck by so many of these beautifully crafted images and secondly by its content. I’d never seen an all-Black college football team group picture before then, or life in a Black town so vividly chronicled. This particular book has unfortunately vanished from my collection, along with his name from my memory. But if there is one photographer that has truly inspired me to push on with my work, it’s Gordon Parks. I remember seeing a photograph by Parks of Muhammed Ali, being such an Ali fan, I was always interested in images related to the great man. I saw this image and thought how cool was this shot, it could have been a cover image for GQ or Vanity Fair today. It was then that I learnt about Parks and his history, his work and his legacy. A wonderfully brilliant photographer, he had storytelling running right through his soul, he absolutely knew how to convey a story visually. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/826467f3-24ff-408a-8674-1104f0ed27ac/John-Ferguson-4-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### Please describe the highs and lows of your experience as a Black photographer? Without a doubt, the most dishearting experience for me was my first few weeks working in London’s famous Fleet Street for a large major newspaper. I had to endure open hostilities from journalists, desk workers, and others working in this, at the time, white male bastion of journalism. This did come as a shock to me. I mistakenly thought that once I had arrived in Fleet Street, the attitudes might have been a bit more enlightened from my previous baptism of fire working in a small dark room for a press photo and news agency. My darkroom manager, a totally off the scale racist, sexist, misogynist, homophobic, middle-aged man, in fact, he held all the negative isms you could think of. So this I suppose at the time, this was an early introduction to attitudes for me once I arrived in Fleet Street. But for all the lows, there was also some tremendous highs. Meeting and working with some wonderfully talented people, and being offered my dream job as a staff photographer on a major UK national newspaper, to travelling to nearly 60 countries working on various assignments. ### What work are you producing and what more would you like to do? I’m in the process of organising my next project based around a small section of the Black community in regards to mental health & well being. We are hoping to get sponsorship from corporates after securing a partnership agreement with the charity MIND. It’s an idea that I’ve had for over 5 years now, these things take time to come to fruition, it’s as much about having patience and playing the long game as anything else when it comes to funding and sponsorship for larger projects such as these. There’s so much more that I hope to do in regards to my personal work. I have several other ideas that I also hope to start in 2021\. I’ve picked up some new exciting commercial clients this year, so I’m looking forward to working with them on their latest campaigns and professional brand ideas. So let’s hope 2021 turns out to be a successful year for all, fingers crossed. --- ## About John Ferguson North London-based John Ferguson is a contemporary commercial portrait photographer whose signature, a clean and elegant aesthetic, has elevated politicians, musicians, sports stars, celebrities and business leaders to new heights. His award-winning pictures and personal photographic projects have been published widely, both nationally and internationally. This includes ‘Black Britannia’ a photographic portrait series attempting to raising awareness for the achievements and great work that many Black Britons had contributed to the UK over the last five decades. ### Connect with John [Website](https://www.johnfergusonphotography.uk/?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/john%5Fferguson%5Fphotography?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Twitter](http://www.twitter.com/jfergie%5Fphoto?ref=theblkgze.com) --- ## Add your voice [![CTA Image](https://cdn.mymidnight.blog/995665640dc319973d3173a74a03860c/2025/04/shaunconnellmumjpeg.jpeg)](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) Through **The Black Gaze*, we don’t just reflect the world, we reshape it. Your story matters. Share it. Honour it. Hold space for others. This is where truth lives and vision leads. We invite Black photographers to contribute in two meaningful ways through story and image. [Get started ](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) ### Dawn Hester URL: https://www.theblkgze.com/q-and-a/dawn-hester/ Last updated: 2025-04-18T17:43:30.000Z "To me the Black gaze is when people are surprised and/or shocked I’m not a wedding photographer. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong being a wedding photographer but all Black photographers aren’t." — Dawn Hester ### How does the Black gaze relate to your photography practice? It really doesn’t. I photograph what I enjoy. If I decide to shoot what others want me to then I will lose myself, my passion. ### What do you want to say or address with your photography? My tag line on my website is “capturing what is here today and may be gone tomorrow.” Regardless if it’s a portrait, a landscape, or any type of event, I want to give it 200+ percent to capture with my upmost ability. I want whoever is viewing my work can “feel” my work. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/023c1f29-3d56-43a1-977b-03f6802be24a/Dawn-Hester-2-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What influences and inspires you? How is this reflected in your work? Life in general. Old buildings where you would say “if these walls could talk”. Older generation and their history of life. Really nothing in particular but I try my best to document and make sure I document. ### Who are your favourite Black photographers from the past? Why? Gordon Parks. I started out as a film shooter. Looking at his work just reminds me so much of my life growing up. His work makes me pull out old photographs of my life and reflect. I love black and white and it brings out so much personality in people and everything else. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/488c8abd-cf98-4eb8-bbfa-ba9e1384d026/Dawn-Hester-3-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### Please describe the highs and lows of your experience as a Black photographer? The highs? I retired as a Forensic Photographer, the best career ever. Lows is a tough question! Maybe meeting photographers whose backgrounds are forensic/law enforcement. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/f16a9758-1e03-44ac-bcc1-84d69f5bae7a/Dawn-Hester-4-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What work are you producing and what more would you like to do? Because of COVID-19 I don’t travel as much. I did start a podcast Photography Adventures and that’s been fun. Maybe when things become a little safe travel by train and document life. --- ## About Dawn Hester Dawn Hester is a retired retired Air National Guard and FBI photographer who is blessed with 35 years of photography experience and the passion to continue enjoying doing what she loves. Dawn’s photography is best described as, ‘a little bit of this, a little bit of that’. She invests her time travelling and capturing what is here today and may be gone tomorrow”. Dawn continues to share her passion via the [Photography Adventures podcast](https://open.spotify.com/show/3BAL30S9rF7AyZDgjrXUmn?ref=theblkgze.com). ### Connect with Dawn [Website](https://www.dawndhester.com/index?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/dawndhester?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Twitter](http://www.twitter.com/dawnhester58?ref=theblkgze.com) --- ## Add your voice [![CTA Image](https://cdn.mymidnight.blog/995665640dc319973d3173a74a03860c/2025/04/shaunconnellmumjpeg.jpeg)](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) Through **The Black Gaze*, we don’t just reflect the world, we reshape it. Your story matters. Share it. Honour it. Hold space for others. This is where truth lives and vision leads. We invite Black photographers to contribute in two meaningful ways through story and image. [Get started ](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) ### Karene-Isabelle Jean-Baptiste URL: https://www.theblkgze.com/q-and-a/karene-isabelle-jean-baptiste/ Last updated: 2025-04-18T17:02:35.000Z "It means looking at Black subjects with kindness, empathy and nuance. It means that as Black people we can be seen as we truly are and not with preconceived notions of who we are. It’s important because images are powerful. Whether we like it or not they oftentimes define the way that we perceive and think of things. They create an invisible framework that the majority articulates its perceptions of blackness around." — Karene-Isabelle Jean-Baptiste ### How does the Black gaze relate to your photography practice? I love capturing black people in all of their glory. In that sense, my work is very much collaborative. I am highly conscious of making sure that I am telling the truth about who a person is but in a way that also corresponds with the way that the person sees or thinks of themselves. I want to create a revised frameworks through which we are viewed. ### What do you want to say or address with your photography? A lot of my recent projects have been about giving voices and spotlighting people that are voiceless, forgotten or who are not celebrated as I feel that they should be. I want them to be seen. I also want to speak of the joy of life as opposed to the misery of it. I like finding pockets of joy in the everyday. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/1ea0b8ea-a844-442d-8a6b-fb89c43c28a0/Karene-Isabelle-Jean-Baptiste-2-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What influences and inspires you? How is this reflected in your work? Everything! Lol! I have a pretty unhealthy relationship with my phone to be honest so I’m on it constantly. I can weave in and out of online rabbit holes almost all day. That means that one minute I am looking at someone’s Instagram feed and the next I’m on a tour of the Louvre Museum and then listening to a podcast about design or food! I pick up the pieces that speak to me and bookmark them so the I can go back to them at a later time (I have 32 tabs open on my internet browser right now!) I would say that it makes my work very eclectic and empathetic at the same time. ### Who are your favourite Black photographers from the past? Why? Kwame Brathwaite and of course Gordon Parks. Mr Brathwaite because he created pictures of Black women that presented them as fashion forward, beautiful, regal and elegant. He also helped popularise the phrase, “Black is Beautiful” which resonated with and inspired so many people from the diaspora. Gordon Parks was an amazing photographer and polymath who remained relevant for decades. His pictures are evocative, truthful, beautiful and as such they speak to me. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/705dd481-137e-4b25-b9db-28dbddcd0124/Karene-Isabelle-Jean-Baptiste-3-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### Please describe the highs and lows of your experience as a Black photographer? My biggest high comes from someone telling me that a picture I have taken makes them feel something. To know that an image I have created evokes a visceral reaction in someone is absolutely amazing. The lows are really around getting the sneaking sensation that I may not have gotten a job because of the colour of my skin. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/2f663de4-a5b5-408c-b7c5-a7d74f77dc50/Karene-Isabelle-Jean-Baptiste-4-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What work are you producing and what more would you like to do? I am currently working on a series on Black Women in Healthcare during the pandemic. As a second generation Haitian Canadian, I know many people in the healthcare industry and I also happen to live in a borough in Montreal that was severely impacted in terms of COVID-19 infection rates. The project also coalesced around the Black Lives Matter movement and the death of Breonna Taylor. I wanted to make sure that I captured these women for posterity and told their stories with empathy. I definitely want to be hired to do more documentary photography work. I want to be able to tell the stories of people who don’t feel represented in the media that they typically consume. --- ## About Karene-Isabelle Jean-Baptiste Karene-Isabelle Jean-Baptiste has an eye for the elusive moments of magic that can appear and disappear in an instant within a scene or a human face. Her aim is to have those moments endure and express the depth of feeling that, at times, go unnoticed. Her work was selected as part of the Diversify Photo print sale held in April 2020\. It has also been shown in Montreal libraries as part of Montreal’s 375th anniversary and has appeared on the Montreal radio station CKOI’s website. ### Connect with Karene-Isabelle [Website](https://kareneisabelle.format.com/?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Instagram](htthttps://www.instagram.com/kareneisabelleps://www.instagram.com/eshephoto) / [Twitter](http://www.twitter.com/BaptisteKI?ref=theblkgze.com) --- ## Add your voice [![CTA Image](https://cdn.mymidnight.blog/995665640dc319973d3173a74a03860c/2025/04/shaunconnellmumjpeg.jpeg)](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) Through **The Black Gaze*, we don’t just reflect the world, we reshape it. Your story matters. Share it. Honour it. Hold space for others. This is where truth lives and vision leads. We invite Black photographers to contribute in two meaningful ways through story and image. [Get started ](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) ### Chiyana Ankhrah URL: https://www.theblkgze.com/q-and-a/chiyana-ankhrah/ Last updated: 2025-04-18T17:38:40.000Z "To me, the Black gaze means to see and understand through Black eyes. To read and listen. To comprehend, not to respond. To see how we create, how we live, our day to day lives and experiences told through Black narratives and not interfered with by anyone else. It’s important to me because quite simply Black voices need to be amplified and heard. Our views are often ignored, spoken over, misrepresented or even misused for other people’s agendas, so having and being able to use the ‘Black gaze’ is incredibly important because it means that we are able to showcase what the world looks like through our eyes." — Chiyana Ankhrah ### How does the Black gaze relate to your photography practice? I mainly take pictures of Black women and I do this so that other Black women and girls are able to see themselves represented in the media, especially because in this industry we are often overlooked. To put it quite plainly, Black women and girls deserve better and they deserve to be seen especially in an industry that is geared towards focusing on Western beauty. I use my photography to showcase and familiarise the public with Black faces in the beauty and fashion industry as well as to tell stories surrounding Black culture, spirituality and issues surrounding mental health. ### What do you want to say or address with your photography? As previously stated one of the main things I focus on in my photography is challenging Western Eurocentric beauty standards by taking pictures of women who aren’t ‘typically’ Western looking. However, another thing that’s really important to me and that I’ve done a few series on is mental health and the visual representation of how it can make someone feel. People often forget that because mental heath has become so commercialised and trendy that it’s still something that’s very raw and doesn’t look like a girl crying prettily. It’s not showering or eating for days. It’s sleeping all day and being unable to find the energy to get up and go to the bathroom. It’s being physically unable to take care of yourself. It’s a lot darker than what’s shown on TV or in the movies. The side that we don’t always see is considered a taboo and I want to create pieces that raise questions and spark discussions around that. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/13f1e4d6-9444-499d-9715-ba1abbae95fd/Chiyana-Ankhrah-2-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What influences and inspires you? How is this reflected in your work? The biggest thing that influences me is a quote from Dennis Morris (he said he was told this by a careers advisor) ‘Be realistic. There’s no such thing as a black photographer’. It’s something that drives me to get up and take pictures and showcase my talent as a Black photographer and I make sure that its reflected in my images by similarly documenting Black mental health, Black fashion and beauty, Black spirituality and Black culture. Everyday I go out and pick up my camera I strive to prove that statement wrong and everyday that I do is exhilarating. ### Who are your favourite Black photographers from the past? Why? Dennis Morris and Jennie Baptiste are two of my favourite Black photographers because of their documentary and portraiture work. I love the way that they are able to capture the vibrant culture of Black British life as well as tell the stories of Black heritage within something as simple as a picture. It’s like each image they took has a life of its own. I especially love the use of colour in Baptiste’s work (my favourite being a portrait of a woman named Pinky) and how she uses it in some of her older pieces where she showcases Black youth culture and dancehall culture. I love Morris’s drive and ambition and the fact that photography gave him confidence, which is something I really resonate with. I think it’s really important to have documentary photographers like this because they are able to capture parts of the Black experience in Britain and what our lives look like. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/3154333d-b709-41c0-b45d-306960f2b81d/Chiyana-Ankhrah-3-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### Please describe the highs and lows of your experience as a Black photographer? My biggest struggle as a Black photographer has been building support and finding people who believe in my craft enough to hire me and choose my work. It was especially difficult when gatekeepers would try and keep me out or doubt me, which in turn made me doubt myself and left me unsure of where I fit in the photography industry. However, I’ve since learnt that I don’t need the validation of others to show that I’m a great photographer and once I figured that out and believed in my abilities I started gaining more clients and finding a community of Black women photographers who were like minded and ready to help each other. This year has been monumental for me despite how challenging its been for everyone, but honestly I wouldn’t change it. I’ve been in two exhibitions, been published in magazines and newspapers and most importantly developed my craft and my business in ways I couldn’t have imaged when I first picked up a camera six years ago. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/c1084409-4e8f-49f2-b0cd-6895d81fcbc4/Chiyana-Ankhrah-4-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What work are you producing and what more would you like to do? At the moment I’m still focusing on beauty and fashion portraiture, however I would love to move onto doing more exhibition pieces that are thought provoking and focus more on mental health, documentary and realism. I’ve already started some conceptual pieces this year that I’m going to put forward to be in exhibitions in the new year. I also want to do a bit more studio work. I usually use the outdoors to do my photoshoots because I enjoy natural lighting and like my models to engage with their surroundings but I think for fashion and beauty shoots I want to start to develop my craft a little differently. Ultimately, my goal is to get my own studio space in the new year and build it up so that I can have a safe space for Black women run by Black women to uplift Black women, especially since they are my inspiration and focus in my photography. I want to be the change that I want to see in this industry so that I other Black women don’t have to deal with the same struggles I did as an emerging photographer. I’m really excited to see where 2021 takes me and how I can develop my craft and my career. --- ## About Chiyana Ankrah Chiyana Ankhrah is a conceptual and editorial portrait photographer based in London whose work is challenges Eurocentric beauty standards. Her recent work includes ‘Soft Black Woman’. Published by Know magazine, this body of work seeks to deconstruct the ‘Strong Black Woman’ narrative. In 2020 Chiyana’s work appeared in the Women Of The Lens Film Festival and the ‘We Are Here‘ exhibition organised by the UK Black Female Photographers. ### Connect [Website](https://www.eshephoto.com/?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/eshephoto?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Twitter](http://www.twitter.com/eshephoto?ref=theblkgze.com) --- ## Add your voice [![CTA Image](https://cdn.mymidnight.blog/995665640dc319973d3173a74a03860c/2025/04/shaunconnellmumjpeg.jpeg)](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) Through **The Black Gaze*, we don’t just reflect the world, we reshape it. Your story matters. Share it. Honour it. Hold space for others. This is where truth lives and vision leads. We invite Black photographers to contribute in two meaningful ways through story and image. [Get started ](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) ### Rachel Seidu URL: https://www.theblkgze.com/q-and-a/rachel-seidu/ Last updated: 2025-04-18T17:25:13.000Z "For me the Black gaze means seeing and telling my own stories myself, changing the western perspectives of us. It matters because I live these stories. I am these stories. I am in the right place to tell them." — Rachel Seidu ### How does the Black gaze relate to your photography practice? The core of my photography practice is storytelling, telling the stories of my people is an important part of it. ### What do you want to say or address with your photography? I want to tell stories showcasing the beauty in Black skin and our culture, as well as breaking gender norms for men and women. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/3c93b28c-20c1-4d3a-a1fc-2eec39b185b9/Rachel-Seidu-2-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What influences and inspires you? How is this reflected in your work? So many things inspire me, art, music, the work of other great artists as well, books and articles too. How it’s reflected in my work is i take an element of each of these things and interpret it in my way. ### Who are your favourite Black photographers from the past? Why? Gordon Parks and John W. Mosley, they were amazing storytellers and true artists. They told everyday stories and made it into something powerful. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/bc3c6374-79f0-49ac-bf97-21045695c857/Rachel-Seidu-3-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### Please describe the highs and lows of your experience as a Black photographer? Getting booked and selling prints is quite hard, although I believe this is because I am still a newbie. ?. So I’m unable to get the gears I really want, but I believe things will be better soon. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/7b1b7639-176a-49a4-bd9a-0b3190c7f41c/Rachel-Seidu-4-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What work are you producing and what more would you like to do? I’m currently telling stories around gender fluidity and body positivity. For now that’s it. --- ## About Rachel Seidu Rachel Seidu is a Nigerian-Ghanaian photographer working out of Benin City, Nigeria. Rachel captures every day Nigeria in an ‘up close and personal’ style that seeks to highlight people and address issues that are often unseen or overlooked. Rachel’s work recently featured in the Young Contemporaries Exhibition at Rele Art Gallery. ### Connect with Rachel [Website](https://www.behance.net/rachelseidu?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/Rachelseidu?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Twitter](http://www.twitter.com/Rachelseidu?ref=theblkgze.com) --- ## Add your voice [![CTA Image](https://cdn.mymidnight.blog/995665640dc319973d3173a74a03860c/2025/04/shaunconnellmumjpeg.jpeg)](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) Through **The Black Gaze*, we don’t just reflect the world, we reshape it. Your story matters. Share it. Honour it. Hold space for others. This is where truth lives and vision leads. We invite Black photographers to contribute in two meaningful ways through story and image. [Get started ](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) ### Dante Nicholas URL: https://www.theblkgze.com/q-and-a/dante-nicholas/ Last updated: 2025-04-18T17:12:37.000Z "We often hear about the issue of “the White gaze” and so I think of Black gaze as the answer to that. Just this year, we’ve started to see Black photographers like Kennedi Carter and AB+DM Studio shoot major magazine covers. This year. We’re JUST now seeing these firsts at Vogue, Vanity Fair, GQ. And we’re bodying these shoots every single time, delivering cultural moments that these publications weren’t getting before, because they didn’t truly understand our culture. We know how Black skin tones should be photographed, styled, etc. That’s why the Black gaze matters so much." — Dante Nicholas ### How does the Black gaze relate to your photography practice? I shoot a lot of music photography (festivals, etc.) and it’s always so interesting to see Black musicians and Hip Hop culture dominate the festival space, but the photographers and videographers documenting these moments are typically white males. I want to be a part of the change in that sense. ### What do you want to say or address with your photography? Beyond being a part of the shift in the industry, I want to put our culture on display in ways that it hasn’t before. Beats by Dre recently released a powerful commercial where the dialogue starts off by saying “You love Black culture, but do you love me?” I want to build on that message in my work. It’s simple, but powerful all at once. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/adea3101-e91b-415c-b566-b56458027cb0/Dante-Nicholas-1-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What influences and inspires you? How is this reflected in your work? I’m inspired by so many people that I would consider my peers; Greg Noire, Ravie B, Mark Clennon, Blair Caldwell. Our generation is so extremely talented, and social media has given us a platform for our talent to be deemed worthy of being celebrated in ways previous generations never had access to. ### Who are your favourite Black photographers from the past? Why? Lately, I’ve been watching and reading a ton about Jamel Shabazz. He’s a street photographer from Brooklyn, NY and his style of photography personifies everything I spoke about before. And of course I have to mention the absolute legend that is Gordon Parks. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/3ec69796-c843-49b2-816c-3ce97b488c6b/Dante-Nicholas-4-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### Please describe the highs and lows of your experience as a Black photographer? A lot of times, as a young Black photographer (and really in any industry), you get looked over just because of those two descriptors alone. But that’s starting to change as we see young Black talent starting to receive shine and decision-making power in all aspects of the corporate world. My biggest two photo gigs (working with Netflix and ESSENCE) have come from knowing young Black talent on the corporate side. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/009aa087-b065-477b-b790-32e484fac9a6/Dante-Nicholas-2-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What work are you producing and what more would you like to do? My goal for 2020 was to shoot with more models in order to develop my fashion photography sense. Coronavirus kind of put that on hold, but that’s still the goal moving forward. I’m also concepting a personal project entitled ‘Black and Blessed’ that I hope to release in February. --- ## About Dante Nicholas Dante Nicholas is a multi-talented creative strategist who rocks social media plans and, music and lifestyle photography. Based in New Orleans, Dante has created photography for and been showcased by Netflix, Paper Magazine, Essence Magazine, VSCO, Later.com and more. ### Connect with Dante [Website](https://www.allthingsdante.com/?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/allthingsdante?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Twitter](http://www.twitter.com/allthingsdante?ref=theblkgze.com) --- ## Add your voice [![CTA Image](https://cdn.mymidnight.blog/995665640dc319973d3173a74a03860c/2025/04/shaunconnellmumjpeg.jpeg)](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) Through **The Black Gaze*, we don’t just reflect the world, we reshape it. Your story matters. Share it. Honour it. Hold space for others. This is where truth lives and vision leads. We invite Black photographers to contribute in two meaningful ways through story and image. [Get started ](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) ### Wasi Daniju URL: https://www.theblkgze.com/q-and-a/wasi-daniju/ Last updated: 2025-04-18T17:12:04.000Z "To me, the Black gaze means exactly what it sounds like – seeing things from a Black point of view (which is not monolithic) and with regards to photography, in a way that attempts to shed as much as possible of the colonialism that is inherent to the practice. It matters because it’s vital we tell our own stories, we see ourselves through our own lenses, literally and metaphorically." — Wasi Daniju ### How does the Black gaze relate to your photography practice? I hope that my practice demonstrates the Black gaze both by who I choose to focus on, and the way in which I practice – I try as much as possible to not simply be ‘capturing’ images, to be recording ’subjects. I choose to make connections, to communicate as much as possible and create work that is as collaborative as possible with those who feature in it and provides a chance at interaction for those who view it. ### What do you want to say or address with your photography? With my photography, I hope to bear some sort of witness – to our lives, the various ways we exist, our joys as well as our struggles. I want my photography to amplify our voices and our actions, and be part of creating an archive for when we are no longer around. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/df3f3afb-4440-4af0-950e-06155de260ac/Wasi-Daniju-2-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What influences and inspires you? How is this reflected in your work? I’m influenced and inspired by the people around me, by my faith, by my belief in striving for justice, and by my love of music, poetry, theatre and other expressions of passion. I believe this is reflected in what I choose to make pictures of – I’m often focusing on Black women, girls and non-binary folk, including those who are Muslim, in my portraiture and documentary work, and love to photograph theatre and other live performance, as well as protests and other actions. ### Who are your favourite Black photographers from the past? Why? Honestly, many of my favourite Black photographers are contemporary and very much still of the present, some even younger than me; folks like Carrie Mae Weems, Zanele Muholi, Dana Scruggs, Ronan Mckenzie, Yagazie Emezi, Etinosa Yvonne, Elsie Kibue-Ngare, Wamaitha Ng’ang’a, Amaal Said, Ruth Sutoyé – the list goes on and on! Thinking of photographers from the past, though, I’d have to say Seydou Keïta and Malick Sidibe, for the way in which they lovingly captured Malians and their beauty in stark contrast to the colonial photography that many had witnessed or been subjected to. Their portraits are a celebration of the joy and beauty of every day people in Mali. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/8aca0b48-d93c-4095-b928-ad74c6580c1c/Wasi-Daniju-3-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### Please describe the highs and lows of your experience as a Black photographer? I can’t think of so many lows, really. Not that there haven’t been many – more that, for the most part, I try not to hold onto them as being reflective of me as opposed to of the people, institutions or systems attempting to diminish me in any way. I am keenly aware of exclusion due to my being a Black photographer, especially a Black Muslim woman, and also my choice of focus on Blackness in my work – for example being told when applying to a photography MA that my portfolio was not considered satisfactory. But I think the highs have so outweighed any lows that they ring out much more clearly. My highs include first seeing my photography on the cover of a play text, and on posters at theatres around the country. They include being approached by theatres such as Royal Court and the Young Vic based on recommendations and them enjoying my work. Exhibiting – individually and as part of different groups; having my work commended and lauded by people I admire and respect; working and collaborating with photographers I admire and respect; creating work that I love and value – these are all amazing highs for me. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/3091599f-07c1-450c-8f0b-ae751cb6e666/Wasi-Daniju-4-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What work are you producing and what more would you like to do? Given the year we’re having, I’m not currently producing very much work at all! Most recently, I completed a project, All The Women In Me Are Tired, which I am still working on and look forward to sharing. It is a project which has at its foundation what it is to live as a Black woman in this world, and how exhausting that can be. I’m looking forward to sharing this work publicly sometime in the new year, as well as to exhibiting virtually – and eventually physically also – with some colleagues. Beyond that, I’m looking forward to making more documentary work, building on my archive of Black women, girls and non-binary people, and finding new ways that my photography can be an expression of my beliefs and passions. --- ## About Wasi Daniju Wasi Daniju is a talented people photographer whose work spans portraiture, live performance, theatre and photojournalism. Wasi is currently working towards a MA in Documentary Photography and Photojournalism to complement her 10 years industry experience. Playwright and writer Hassan Mahamdallie describes Wasi’s work as having a beautiful aesthetic: “Energy and stillness come together. She has a sharp eye and the technical excellence to capture the moment. You can trust Wasi’s work to be authentic – to be capturing something real and of significance.” ### Connect with Wasi [Website](https://www.wasidaniju.com/?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/wasidaniju/?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Twitter](http://www.twitter.com/knox%5Fo?ref=theblkgze.com) --- ## Add your voice [![CTA Image](https://cdn.mymidnight.blog/995665640dc319973d3173a74a03860c/2025/04/shaunconnellmumjpeg.jpeg)](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) Through **The Black Gaze*, we don’t just reflect the world, we reshape it. Your story matters. Share it. Honour it. Hold space for others. This is where truth lives and vision leads. We invite Black photographers to contribute in two meaningful ways through story and image. [Get started ](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) ### Taesirat Yusuf URL: https://www.theblkgze.com/q-and-a/taesirat-yusuf/ Last updated: 2025-04-18T17:11:16.000Z "The Black gaze to me means directing the focus of the world on to the Black creatives and showcasing the talents and versatility of Black creatives. It is important because there’s not enough representation of Black creatives and we need to start pushing out ourselves to the world." — Taesirat Yusuf ### How does the Black gaze relate to your photography practice? The Black gaze matters to me as a Black female photographer because it spotlights me as a creative Black woman and through this, I feel seen by the world and my craft gets acknowledged too. ### What do you want to say or address with your photography? I am a fluid photographer in the sense that I do a little but of everything and don’t identify in a particular genre but regardless of that, I want to tell stories through my subjects, smash gender roles that society has forced everyone into conforming to, tell and showcase the beauty of Nigerian culture, the beauty of it’s people and the diversity. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/2e91b42e-e073-4512-a263-4551d77ecb80/Taesirat-Yusuf-2-TheBlkGze-QA.jpeg) ### What influences and inspires you? How is this reflected in your work? Colours, lights and nature. I am intrigued by the way little changes in the lighting of a particular set can change the mood of an image and the use of colours. I am a fan of hard light and most of pictures show this. Also, I tend to bring out the colours in my pictures making them vibrant. ### Who are your favourite Black photographers from the past? Why? Carrie Mae Weems, Prince Gyasi and Adrienne Raquel. Carrie Mae’s works inspire me because of the way she uses her light and shadows, the representation of Black history in her work and also the emotions behind her work. Though Prince Gyasi and Adrienne aren’t black photographers from the past, I mention them because their works really inspire me. I love the way they play with colours and the way they evoke emotions with these colours using their subjects. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/ddbf01ba-5f55-4df1-aae5-8a67b750701b/Taesirat-Yusuf-3-TheBlkGze-QA.jpeg) ### Please describe the highs and lows of your experience as a Black photographer? My highs as a Black photographer are mostly the feeling of representing the Black community all over the work in a positive light, and the joy that comes from shooting and getting recognised as a Black female photographer. My lows as a Black female photographer, a Nigerian photographer to be specific, is the lack of proper recognition of me and my works even though I push projects out consistently. It’s discouraging as an artist when your work doesn’t receive the reception you expect. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/4c0a292a-4196-462c-aec6-28e46a3b5ef2/Taesirat-Yusuf-4-TheBlkGze-QA.jpeg) ### What work are you producing and what more would you like to do? I am currently working on two projects, the first, FÁÀRÍ is already underway and I have two parts of it that have already been published on my social media platforms. I would love to work more on projects that deals with me showcasing the African culture and struggles of Black people. --- ## About Taesirat Yusuf Taesirat Yusuf is a multidisciplinary photographer located in Lagos, Nigeria. She is known for her love of colour, melanin and the representation of Black beauty beyond the confines of the Western gaze. Taesirat was one of the Black Women Photographers who documented the recent End SARS demonstrations in Nigeria. ### Connect with Taesirat [Website](https://immaculataabba.com/?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/Taesirat.jpeg?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Twitter](http://www.twitter.com/Taesirat%5F?ref=theblkgze.com) --- ## Add your voice [![CTA Image](https://cdn.mymidnight.blog/995665640dc319973d3173a74a03860c/2025/04/shaunconnellmumjpeg.jpeg)](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) Through **The Black Gaze*, we don’t just reflect the world, we reshape it. Your story matters. Share it. Honour it. Hold space for others. This is where truth lives and vision leads. We invite Black photographers to contribute in two meaningful ways through story and image. [Get started ](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) ### Immaculata Abba URL: https://www.theblkgze.com/q-and-a/immaculata-abba/ Last updated: 2025-04-18T17:10:28.000Z "To me, the Black gaze is one of the many gazes on the margins of photography’s history so far and the margins of mainstream western art institutions. The Black gaze in particular is one that is also a vital means through which black people are able to represent our cultures and understandings of the world. This work of world-making is significant as a political act not just against racism and white supremacy, but also against colonialism and imperialism all around the world. Everyone in the centre and on the margins stands to gain from the gift of the Black gaze. For this, the Black gaze is indispensable." — Immaculata Abba ### How does the Black gaze relate to your photography practice? Beyond embodying a Black gaze by mere virtue of being a black photographer, my photography practice is occupied with thinning out the idea of the ‘black gaze’ as a monolith, a monolith of American blackness. One way to do this, the way I do this, is by centring African blackness in my work. And this is not because I believe in an African superiority but because, for one, I am African/Nigerian and this is, quite simply, my gaze. More importantly, I do this because I believe deeply that every thing, every culture, every phenomenon has something to teach us about everything else. And so I put it at the heart of my practice to tell African stories, depict contemporary African aesthetics and make meanings of the world through my African sensibilities. ### What do you want to say or address with your photography? I want to say that there is soft, ordinary beauty everywhere, everywhere. I want to say to all that beauty: thank you for being you. I want to thank the trees and the light and the colour red and brown and purple, etc. Then, I want to ask questions about where we, all different we’s, are coming from and how we are socialised to become what we are. It is very easy to fall into the trap of taking for granted that because a thing is this way, it was and will always be that way and I always want to disturb that narrative. And then, more generally, I want to resound Raymond William’s point that “culture is ordinary, that is the first fact. Every society has its own shape, its purposes, its own meanings.” ![Immaculata Abba theBLKGAZE Q&A Image 2](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/74445069-589e-4be9-81ba-46522f61d997/Immaculata-Abba-2-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What influences and inspires you? How is this reflected in your work? You know when you’re listening to a really nice song and it tears you open to the point that you are Rilke at the end of his poem ‘Archaic Torso of Apollo’ saying to yourself: “you must change your life”. I had the same feeling when I finished watching Call Me By Your Name, when I saw my first Lynette Yiadom-Boakye exhibition, when I read The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, when I watched Beychella, the list is long. Experiences like this make me give my 100% in my work and I can only hope that the effort shows. More frequently though, I am inspired by history and the fact that all politics and economics are about a story we as a society tell ourselves. When I see change in history, for better or worse, I remember more urgently that the way our world is today will not be the same for long and it is the documentation of today that will make it possible to study history in the future. This influence shows up most in the subjects I choose to explore in my documentary practice. ### Who are your favourite Black photographers from the past? Why? Chief S O Alonge, James Barnor, Malick Sidibe and Seydou Keita. And I mention them only as representatives of a certain generation of West African studio photographers whose work show an understanding of portraiture as a medium for record, play and performance all at once. I’ll add the fictional Styles from Athol Fugard’s play ‘Sizwe Bansi is Dead’ for this same reason. ![Immaculata Abba theBLKGAZE Q&A Image 4](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/d561290d-3918-446f-b434-2a0df39cb573/Immaculata-Abba-4-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### Please describe the highs and lows of your experience as a Black photographer? The Highs: When I was employed as a staff photographer at my university’s student union! It was my first non-freelance creative job and brought external validation and a huge growth opportunity for me. The Lows: Every day I wake up in Enugu wishing I was living in a city with a more thriving media and publishing industry. I’m sick of connecting over the internet, over emails and zoom calls. Making a living as an editorial and documentary photographer is possible, but very rare, in corners of the world like mine.” ![Immaculata Abba theBLKGAZE Q&A Image 1](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/0fd86957-63fc-406f-af92-a0dd42bb96ad/Immaculata-Abba-1-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What work are you producing and what more would you like to do? I recently finished the first drafts of a couple of photography and interview projects on post-colonial Christianity and international students in London. As I pitch them to different channels, I’m also ideating a self-portrait project that pays homage to my informal arts education. Moving forward I want to balance telling my stories through my personal projects with doing a lot more editorial commissions for publications and NGOs. I am currently working on both my craft and networking skills to make this happen. --- ## About Immaculata Abba Immaculata Abba is a Nigerian photographer, writer and student-historian at the University of Oxford. Immaculata’s documentary photography work is inspired by her academic and independent research and seeks to show how our present is continuously shaped by our past. Her long-term photography projects explore Christianity in South-East Nigeria, and the experience of international students in London. Her photography has been published on international platforms such as The Republic and Black River journal. ### Connect with Immaculata [Website](https://immaculataabba.com/?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/immaculata.na?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Twitter](http://www.twitter.com/thisNneoma?ref=theblkgze.com) --- ## Add your voice [![CTA Image](https://cdn.mymidnight.blog/995665640dc319973d3173a74a03860c/2025/04/shaunconnellmumjpeg.jpeg)](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) Through **The Black Gaze*, we don’t just reflect the world, we reshape it. Your story matters. Share it. Honour it. Hold space for others. This is where truth lives and vision leads. We invite Black photographers to contribute in two meaningful ways through story and image. [Get started ](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) ### Beresford Hodge URL: https://www.theblkgze.com/q-and-a/beresford-hodge/ Last updated: 2025-04-18T17:09:23.000Z "For the best part we all have the ability to look and not truly see. To engage others requires a platform, a means to open visual debate and hone our skills via collaboration, to think and act in the context of we and us and not me, myself and I. No one is the finished article, we are all a work in progress. This is what the Black Gaze means to me and why it matters." — Beresford Hodge ### How does the Black gaze relate to your photography practice? For the best part my photography practice is a solitary pursuit, dialog is pushed to the periphery it becomes essential to engage and build relationships to understand your subject matter. I find the camera to be a wonderful companion which has to ability to decode the complexities of life. ### What do you want to say or address with your photography? Who speaks for the maligned and the disenfranchised? Documented imagery must serve as their voice. The world is full of people and subject matter that is overlooked. ![Beresford Hodge theBLKGAZE Q&A Image 1](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/eaed1524-145f-4bbe-8899-a503169a10a4/Beresford-Hodge-1-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What influences and inspires you? How is this reflected in your work? I’m influenced by what is clearly palpable in 2020\. People are asking questions of themselves and others. There is no where to hide which is an inspiration as this will bring about a lasting change for the benefit of all. The challenge is to produce work that makes a contribution, the camera in the right hands is a powerful tool. ### Who are your favourite Black photographers from the past? Why? Stanley Greene is unquestionably one of the stand out pillars of photojournalism. I admire his ability to allow his work to do the speaking for him, his body of work engages the viewer. It tells you to ask questions of yourself, your behaviour to your fellow human beings and what we are capable of reducing ourselves to. The majestic Gordon Parks; photojournalism, film, writing and director. He is the 360 man, a human being that was more than the sum total of his parts! I have to also say Ruddy Roye even though he is a contemporary photographer. His work speaks of the human condition. Nothing is thrown together, his work is more the imagery! ![Beresford Hodge theBLKGAZE Q&A Image 3](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/49fcb372-a67f-4940-a72e-4714b3feb2fb/Beresford-Hodge-3b-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### Please describe the highs and lows of your experience as a Black photographer? The discipline is not to frame the debate through race. This in my experience sucks the oxygen out of the room. This is my low! The debate now, is not to underestimate who you are capable of becoming. This is my high! ![Beresford Hodge theBLKGAZE Q&A Image 4](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/bf5d64b6-330e-4bf6-92f0-01b2868a759c/Beresford-Hodge-4-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What work are you producing and what more would you like to do? For the last three and a half years, I have been documenting the tragedy that is the Grenfell fire disaster, it has redefined what it is to be a citizen and a subject in the United Kingdom. This callous unprecedented catastrophe has exposed what it means to be socially housed, what has become clearer to all over time, is that the state and local authorities were fully aware of these clandestine malpractices, demonising this community, and braking the social contract of trust, choosing financial gain over combustible substandard cladding which was no fit for purpose, sending innocent people to their deaths As for what more I would like to do, why have we not produced a Larry Burrows, Don McCullin or Eddie Mullholland? As a contracted freelance stringer for Thomson Reuters, my industry of photojournalism and editorial press photography is guilty of woeful representation of ethnicities and the inclusion of people from all walks of life which does not reflect the readership it serves. --- ## About Beresford Hodge Beresford Hodge is a photojournalist and freelance editorial press photographer based in London and the South East. ### Connect with Beresford [Website](https://www.bahh.me/?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Reuters](https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-m-s-food-waste/haunted-by-christmas-past-britains-ms-tackles-food-waste-idUKKBN26W090?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Twitter](http://www.twitter.com/BeresfordHodge?ref=theblkgze.com) --- ## Add your voice [![CTA Image](https://cdn.mymidnight.blog/995665640dc319973d3173a74a03860c/2025/04/shaunconnellmumjpeg.jpeg)](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) Through **The Black Gaze*, we don’t just reflect the world, we reshape it. Your story matters. Share it. Honour it. Hold space for others. This is where truth lives and vision leads. We invite Black photographers to contribute in two meaningful ways through story and image. [Get started ](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) ### Jada Imani M URL: https://www.theblkgze.com/usa/jada-imani-m/ Last updated: 2025-04-18T17:08:25.000Z "The Black gaze is the way Black people see ourselves and the outside world. Because of the intersections within our community, this can vary based on gender, sexuality and skin tone. As a Black woman, I use my work to show viewers the various ways I see myself and my community." — Jada Imani M ### How does the Black gaze relate to your photography practice? I make it a habit to photograph Black people, especially Black women. ### What do you want to say or address with your photography? I want to show people that we are not a monolith. We can exist in different spaces without having to assimilate. Growing up I was called weird and I was uncomfortable with this terminology. I use my odd/weird perspective to fuel my art. ![Jada Imani M TheBlkGze Q&A Image 2](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/6a1a251b-76ae-4fea-8ded-fe156c89609b/Jada-Imani-M-2-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What influences and inspires you? How is this reflected in your work? Black art inspires me. When I look at 90s Hype Williams videos I am reminded to be my authentic self as an artist. I am influenced by fantasy and I showcase that through the way I photograph people, the way I edit, and through the sets I build. ### Who are your favourite Black photographers from the past? Why? Gordon Parks and Carrie Mae Weems because of the way they documented the Black gaze. ![Jada Imani M TheBlkGze Q&A Image 3](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/9f37378f-2b4e-4bea-acc6-23a8e5017107/Jada-Imani-M-3-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### Please describe the highs and lows of your experience as a Black photographer? The best part about being a Black photographer is knowing our perspectives are the same, but different. We have a lot of stories to tell. Though we all relate in some ways, one can always find differences in our life experiences. I would say this can also be the worst part. Our experiences unify us, but divide us at the same time. There is sometimes confusion over who our target audience is, what we are promoting, and whose side we are on based on the work we present. ![Jada Imani M TheBlkGze Q&A Image 4](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/c9169279-59c7-4f53-be76-289e6c623ad7/Jada-Imani-M-4-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What work are you producing and what more would you like to do? I am balancing commissions with passion projects. I want to have more time for my personal work through editorial/documentary photography and film-making. --- ## About Jada Imani M Jada Imani M is a photographer, videographer, and creative director from Prince George’s County, Maryland. She began her journey in 2015 while attending The Art Institute of Washington where she studied Digital Film-making and Video Production. ### Connect with Jada Imani [Website](https://www.jadaimanim.com/?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/jadaimanim/?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Twitter](https://twitter.com/JadaImaniM/?ref=theblkgze.com) --- ## Add your voice [![CTA Image](https://cdn.mymidnight.blog/995665640dc319973d3173a74a03860c/2025/04/shaunconnellmumjpeg.jpeg)](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) Through **The Black Gaze*, we don’t just reflect the world, we reshape it. Your story matters. Share it. Honour it. Hold space for others. This is where truth lives and vision leads. We invite Black photographers to contribute in two meaningful ways through story and image. [Get started ](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) ### Julien James URL: https://www.theblkgze.com/q-and-a/julien-james/ Last updated: 2025-04-18T17:07:21.000Z "To simply put it, the Black gaze is a perspective. It’s the manner in which Black people globally see and perceive their day to day life, their community, and the world at large. Perspectives, in general, are critical for painting a more complete picture. The Black perspective is one that has globally been ignored." — Julien James ### How does the Black gaze relate to your photography practice? A substantial amount of my work highlights Black men in a different light – highlighting them in an intimate way that shows their depth beyond monolithic stereotypes, perpetuated troupes, and fetishisation. ### What do you want to say or address with your photography? By nature, my work doesn't address or say anything. My goal is to provide an alternative perspective and viewpoint, and let the viewer find their own meaning. ![Julien James TheBlkGze Q&A Image 1](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/6f73c612-3e2b-4a4b-b64e-9195d21d7858/Julien-James-1-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What influences and inspires you? How is this reflected in your work? My curiosity in people, their story, where they are from, and conversations are the foundational pillars of what inspires my work. I am always genuinely invested in the person I'm photographing. I see myself in every person I photograph; I think in large that has enabled me to take images that feel intimate and personal - because in part they are. ### Who are your favourite Black photographers from the past? Why? The one and only Roy DeCarava. I studied a lot of his work as I taught myself the art of shooting in black and white. His work is really important as he was one of the first to use black and white photography for personal expression instead of social documentary. His overarching theme of Blackness and conveying his subject matter artistically dramatically influenced my style. ![Julien James TheBlkGze Q&A Image 2](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/e606d735-d645-4617-aa37-0abb35337c7f/Julien-James-2-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### Please describe the highs and lows of your experience as a Black photographer? I think a few of the lows are not seeing many Black photojournalists or photo editors. I believe there is still a significant lack of diversity at the highest level. The best experience for me so far has been an ongoing one – just the ability to document Blackness and culture and share it with the world has been amazing. ![JUlien James TheBlkGze Q&A Image 3](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/f04ea970-96f3-4e5d-91a3-e977ad6ab77b/Julien-James-3-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What work are you producing and what more would you like to do? I am currently exploring the dynamics of the Black family through portraits. Next, for me, is to start exploring storytelling through other visual mediums. --- ## About Julien James Julien James is a photographer and art director based in Washington, D.C., whose work is anchored in documenting culture and Blackness through portraits, places and things. ### Connect with Julien [Website](https://www.byjulienjames.com/?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/sirjulienjames/?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Twitter](https://twitter.com/sirjulienjames?ref=theblkgze.com) --- ## Add your voice [![CTA Image](https://cdn.mymidnight.blog/995665640dc319973d3173a74a03860c/2025/04/shaunconnellmumjpeg.jpeg)](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) Through **The Black Gaze*, we don’t just reflect the world, we reshape it. Your story matters. Share it. Honour it. Hold space for others. This is where truth lives and vision leads. We invite Black photographers to contribute in two meaningful ways through story and image. [Get started ](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) ### Jennifer Thompson URL: https://www.theblkgze.com/q-and-a/jennifer-thompson/ Last updated: 2025-04-18T17:06:41.000Z "The Black gaze means positive representation and progress. As a person of colour I find we do not get many opportunities for representation in the art community that views us in a positive way. Platforms like #TheBLKGZE are vital to the progress of Black creators and positive representation of who we are as a people." — Jennifer Thompson ### How does the Black gaze relate to your photography practice? What is an artist or their art without a way to reach the public, show who they are, and what it is they create? Representation is not only vital to the career of an artist but positive representation for people of colour in the photography community shows others that we are capable of. Breaking the barriers of divide, social injustice, and racism. ### What do you want to say or address with your photography? I want the audience to experience the elegance of the ordinary. We often overlook or dismiss the beauty in the moment we are in. I do this by capturing the image in a way that pulls the audience in, making them feel as if they are there in the image. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/30f96d47-3662-4242-b955-04378461d0d7/Jennifer-Thompson-2-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What influences and inspires you? How is this reflected in your work? Classical photojournalism, vintage cinema, and my grandfather’s photography have been a major influence on my creative style. The simple lighting techniques of vintage cinema have influenced they way I light my subjects in my captures. I use natural light as much as possible and a few lamps around the house when needed. Using crude lighting has helped me to hone my skills when working with light in my work. Classical photojournalist have really mastered the art of capturing the moment. They did not have all the bells and whistles have today but their work is still amazing. Some may consider their work raw and rough but it has a brilliance to it. I’ve always admired the ability to work on the fly with what you have and use the same tools, SLR film cameras, to create my captures. I have always admired the straightforward style of my grandfather’s photography. He always told me the audience should never have to guess when viewing your work. They should automatically feel something or know something. You must relate to your audience. ### Who are your favourite Black photographers from the past? Why? First, my grandfather, he not only taught me the basic principles of photography but he also taught me the importance of being an individual and expressing that through my work. Secondly, Carrie Mae Weems. I relate to her and her experience as a photographer. She is a mother, has other creative outlets, and has experienced setbacks that I am familiar with. In addition to these, she also shares her personal story and how it affects how she creates. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/7839d1a1-fd63-47f8-86b7-2e1b5b7b2b97/Jennifer-Thompson-3-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### Please describe the highs and lows of your experience as a Black photographer? As a Black woman I have experienced quite a few challenges in my experience as a photographer. As a woman of colour you are often viewed as less component as an artist or uneducated enough to be successful. This makes it harder when applying for, or seeking out, opportunities that are few and far between for us to begin with. However, because I am a woman of colour I have had some amazing opportunities to connect with other people of colour through my work. Other people of colour were willing to be more vulnerable with me, more open to sharing their stories and working with me because of who I am. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/7ffe153c-f7ee-4887-ba46-8b4657c7cd95/Jennifer-Thompson-4-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What work are you producing and what more would you like to do? I am currently working on more personal/creative projects now due to the pandemic. I am hoping to be able to get back to shooting more events and documentary style work when things calm down a bit. --- ## About Jennifer Thompson Jennifer Thompson is fine art photography and pencil sketcher based in the US. Jennifer is well known for her love of film photography, minimal image editing and original soul classics. While we can't share Jennifer's party trick, we can tell you that she has built her own ukulele. ### **Connect with Jennifer** [Website](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7RadiskgJW38p2C25A6yeg?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/jenthompsonart?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Twitter](https://twitter.com/jenthompsonart?ref=theblkgze.com) --- ## Add your voice [![CTA Image](https://cdn.mymidnight.blog/995665640dc319973d3173a74a03860c/2025/04/shaunconnellmumjpeg.jpeg)](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) Through **The Black Gaze*, we don’t just reflect the world, we reshape it. Your story matters. Share it. Honour it. Hold space for others. This is where truth lives and vision leads. We invite Black photographers to contribute in two meaningful ways through story and image. [Get started ](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) ### Schaun Champion URL: https://www.theblkgze.com/q-and-a/schaun-champion/ Last updated: 2025-04-18T17:06:02.000Z "My experience of being a black female photographer has been mixed with discouragement from lack of representation, lack of opportunity, fighting for equal pay as well as recent interest in the way we capture black skin and document our own existence." — Schaun Champion ### What does the Black gaze mean to you? The Black gaze is the visual interpretation, subtle nuances and quiet observations of how I as a Black woman view the world around me. ### How does the Black gaze relate to your photography practice? The dance of shadow and light and the balance of both seeing the unseen and being the unseen. ### What do you want to say or address with your photography? I want to address the lack of Black women photographer representation and share my view of Blackness, Black skin, Black joy but also...being quite ordinary (or extraordinary). ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/22631a03-3af3-4237-8fd5-2e074a3da90e/Schaun-Champion-4-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What influences and inspires you? How is this reflected in your work? Classic films, vintage clothing and analogue photography. The way I colour my work is how my refresh of the beautiful work I grew up seeing. ### Who are your favourite Black photographers from the past? Why? Florestine Perrault Collins, Carrie Mae Weems, Gordon Parks, and Deborah Willis. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/218bbf0a-754c-445d-b2a1-3d52a58afd36/Schaun-Champion-2-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### Please describe the highs and lows of your experience as a Black photographer? My experience of being a black female photographer has been mixed with discouragement from lack of representation, lack of opportunity, fighting for equal pay as well as recent interest in the way we capture black skin and document our own existence. Recently, the highs of my career have been the acknowledgement of my personal project "A Black Bouquet" and having the privilege of working with public figures and major publications. Most recently having my work painted on 3 different walls in two states and Washington DC. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/c31e4b53-8a91-4aa0-b24a-876385fa20d4/Schaun-Champion-3-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What work are you producing and what more would you like to do? I'm producing Editorial, Photojournalistic, Commercial, and Fine Art Work. I would love to get more Editorial and Key Art Work, while continuing my Fine Art practice. --- ## About Schaun Champion Schaun is an international photographer, filmmaker and instructor who specializes in natural light, portraiture, fine art and cultural documentary work. Using both analogue and digital cameras, she creates intentionally cinematic and honest imagery. ### Connect with Schaun [Website](https://schaunchampion.com/?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/schaunchampion/?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Twitter](https://twitter.com/ovoschaun?ref=theblkgze.com) --- ## Add your voice [![CTA Image](https://cdn.mymidnight.blog/995665640dc319973d3173a74a03860c/2025/04/shaunconnellmumjpeg.jpeg)](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) Through **The Black Gaze*, we don’t just reflect the world, we reshape it. Your story matters. Share it. Honour it. Hold space for others. This is where truth lives and vision leads. We invite Black photographers to contribute in two meaningful ways through story and image. [Get started ](https://www.theblkgze.com/add-your-voice/) ### Elsie Kibue-Ngare URL: https://www.theblkgze.com/conversations/elsie-kibue-ngare-q-and-a/ Last updated: 2026-07-10T00:54:36.000Z ## Series: Q&A Q&A is theBLKGZE's original interview series. Presented in a traditional question-and-answer format, these conversations explore the ideas, experiences and ways of seeing that shape photographic practice. > "The Black gaze is looking at Black people and their experiences from the Black perspective without the interference of the ever so present White gaze. It matters as it is an opportunity for telling our own stories as our representation of who we are matters and not the idea of who we are from ‘the other’." > > — Elsie Kibue-Ngare ### What influences and inspires you? How is this reflected in your work? I am inspired by photography that tell a story or those that make you stop and wonder what the photographer was thinking when they took a particular image. Photography is all about observation and in my work, I like to think of the mundane as part of the process to building my portfolio. ### Who are your favourite Black photographers from the past? Why? Malick Sidibe and Seydou Keita - both photographers had similar styles in photography with their community studio portraits and celebration photography that have stood the test of time. The whole notion of people dressing up and posing in front of the camera, even though shot in black and white, you get a sense of colour and pomp in each photograph. ### Please describe the highs and lows of your experience as a Black photographer? Highs - meeting other photographers who I can relate and engage with, studying photography and graduating with two degrees, being able to navigate spaces I wouldn't even think of because of my photography. Lows - lack of a steady income from my photography, being denied access to certain spaces due to 'lack of experience', when people what to pay your with exposure, lack of Black mentors to steer you in the right direction. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/fd2b20f4-3774-4c39-88fb-909768b86c12/Elsie-Kibue-Ngare-2-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What work are you producing and what more would you like to do? Production of work is on hold at the moment due to the pandemic, but I would like to get back to photographing more portraits, sports and work on my skin ailments project. ### Connect with Elsie [Website](https://ek13photography.com/?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/ek13%5Fphotos?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Twitter](https://twitter.com/ek13%5Fphotos?ref=theblkgze.com) ### Robert N. Jones URL: https://www.theblkgze.com/conversations/robert-n-jones-q-and-a/ Last updated: 2026-07-10T00:50:01.000Z ## Series: Q&A **Q&A** is theBLKGZE's original interview series, exploring the ideas, experiences and ways of seeing that shape photographic practice. > "The Black gaze means everything to me. It’s my (our) point of view. It is a reflection of our experiences. It’s everything we encounter, feel and live through. It matters because, it’s our side of the story. It’s our form of expression. You can’t tell the complete human story without our perspective!" > — Robert N. Jones ### How does the Black gaze relate to your photography practice? It relates to me simply because I am Black man that happens to be a photographer. My work is a reflection of how I see the world. It’s been shaped by my upbringing, my love, my struggle, my, pain, my relationships, and my ambition. I try to approach things with intention as well as empathy. ### What do you want to say or address with your photography? I want to address many things with my photography. I feel as though I was born an artist so all my life I’ve been on a mission to express my inner self. To take my thoughts and feelings and translate them into art that people can relate to. I never liked the idea of confining myself, therefore, I want my work address the world as I see it, but also fulfil my need to articulate my artistic side. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/dce50097-1a0c-477f-8c4d-cc7f82502d9d/Robert-N-Jones-1-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What influences and inspires you? How is this reflected in your work? I’m influenced by many things. I’m a huge movie buff so cinema might be my greatest inspiration. Music is probably a close second. But, real life inspires me. Sights and sounds – from children laughing and playing, to people moving about their daily lives. Human emotions, faces, body language. Light inspires me. Colors inspire me. Textures and details inspire me. Weather inspires me. My dreams inspire me. ### Who are your favourite Black photographers from the past? Why? Gordon Parks is my greatest singular inspiration because of his versatility. In fact, my social media name is a tribute to my love for his talent. He was so good at so many different art forms. It’s both inspirational as well as motivational. Honestly, I love too many photographers to name, but, I also love the [Kamoinge Workshop](https://kamoingeworkshop.squarespace.com/home?ref=theblkgze.com). For so many years of my life and career, like most black people, I was under the impression that all the best photographers were apart of the Magnum collective. Upon discovering Kamoinge, I realised photography was yet another aspect of our lives where we were misled. There are a multitude of great black photographers worldwide! ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/b87fca03-400c-4115-b268-eef7938841d8/Robert-N-Jones-3-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### Please describe the highs and lows of your experience as a Black photographer? That’s a tough question. The highs would be, just being able to do something that I love so much. Finding something that I connect to so deeply and having the good fortune to do it on a regular basis. Another high would be, being able to share my work with people that love art as much as I do. Being a part of a community that values creativity and expression. Lastly, I’d say one of the greatest highs is being able to inspire other individuals to follow and live out their dreams just as I have. The lows, unfortunately there are plenty of those! Being denied opportunities and held to impossibly higher standards as a way to keep us out of contention. Being judged more critically and constantly being watched with suspicion. Being harassed. Being told, “You can’t photograph here” or “Why are you taking these pictures?” Self doubt, creative block, low finances, lack of support. Having to compete with your contemporaries for the same few jobs. Dealing with gatekeepers that only look out for their own. Just to name a few. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/5aaf9759-d9c2-4ac5-b83a-47e26c562ede/Robert-N-Jones-4-TheBlkGze-QA.jpg) ### What work are you producing and what more would you like to do? Right now I’m concentrating more on printing my existing work and creating books. I’m also trying to expand my travel, documentary and abstract interests. I’d like to do more long term documentary projects and portraiture. I’d love to document individuals or groups on a more intimate level. I’d also love to do behind the scenes photos on movie or TV productions. Lastly, I’ve been working on one of my other dreams – shooting short films to accompany my photographs. ### Connect with Robert [Website](https://www.robertnjonesphotography.com/?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Twitter](https://twitter.com/versatilityrnj?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Instagram](https://instagram.com/versatilitybyrnj?ref=theblkgze.com) ### Sandra Harper URL: https://www.theblkgze.com/conversations/sandra-harper-q-and-a/ Last updated: 2026-07-10T00:51:27.000Z ## Series: Q&A Q&A is theBLKGZE's original interview series. Presented in a traditional question-and-answer format, these conversations explore the ideas, experiences and ways of seeing that shape photographic practice. > "I’ve been researching my family tree for years… My challenge is how do I document my ancestry and produce something visual? Well, the ancestors live on through my mother." > — Sandra Harper ### What does the Black gaze mean to you? I have to break it down as my brain is quite a slow burner . The ‘gaze’ is from the viewers stance, a sense of awareness and perception of others. A fixed stare, to glare perhaps with wonder and interest. A Black gaze I can only tell you only from my perspective, my awareness, my stare, my wonder and my interest. I have no right to speak on behalf of other Black gazes. You see it in my images, my voice, the words I write. ### How does the Black gaze relate to your photography practice? It’s how I see the world and how I interpret it but I’m still learning and so my gaze evolves with it. ### What do you want to say or address with your photography? It is simply about the people in the photos from beginning to end. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/bba60f37-0f16-4a42-b2de-2e83a0e38389/SandraHarper2.jpg) ### What influences and inspires you? How is this reflected in your work? I take my influences and inspirations from many mediums. Books not just photo books, films (I watch a substantial amount of films), writings, poetry. Anything that comes to hand. If a random idea comes to mind I write it down. I keep a somewhat a ‘dream diary’. When I wake up and if I remember my dream I write it down. Who knows, one day it may inspire me photographically but at the moment to a random viewers they are just ramblings of a dream at the moment. I try to let my feelings guide my images. If something ‘feels’ right or not. I hope some of those feelings are reflected in some of my work. ### Who are your favourite Black photographers from the past? Why? It’s difficult to chose just one. Gordon Parks, Malick Sidbe, Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe, Okhai Ojeikere to name a few. For me their photography is about the people. Always about the people. ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/92f67def-2f7b-442a-8b68-6642bc017166/SandraHarper3.jpg) ### Please describe the highs and lows of your experience as a Black photographer? I would say the lows outnumber the highs. Last year I exhibited my ‘Hestelle’ story in Wales that was my ‘high’. And lows – where do I start? Well this year of Covid19 hasn’t helped – adding to the tally of lows. You begin to question yourself. Overwhelmed with impostor syndrome. What would an artist be without that syndrome? Do people see me as a photographer? Who am I to take these pictures? Really! Who am I? I am honoured for people allowed to me take their photos. Part of me thinks why bother? Photography was pushed to the back of my mind for a part of the first lockdown in March. Everyday feels like Groundhog day and my mind seems to be occupied in trying get through that day, sleep and then rinse and repeat. Other lows, made stupid naive mistakes (however the high is I learned from them), projects fell through, plans not going to plan etc. It is what it is, I just have to move on I need to work on getting those highs again! ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/623261fcc6412942c7f72d7a/1647616597996-5H259SVGPS0W3TDW8WKD/SandraHarper4.jpg) ### What work are you producing and what more would you like to do? Covid-19 this year has not helped getting out close to people this year I am attracted to do more writing. It seems to go hand-in-hand with photography. Last year I attended a poetry workshop and wrote a poem inspired by a photo from the Windrush generation. What I would like to do next is something on a personal level. I’ve been researching my family tree for years. It’s still ongoing but from that I took a direction on exploring my ancestry. My mother is part Carib. There were two Black Carib wars on the Island of St Vincent & The Grenadines – my parents home country. Our ancestors fought two wars to prevent the British from taking over and controlling their island until they were exiled to Honduras. In the present day they are known as Garifunas. My challenge is how do I document my ancestry and produce something visual? Well, the ancestors live on through my mother. Before Covid-19 I made audio recordings, video recordings, writing and photos whilst visiting her. At the moment, all the jigsaw pieces are there for the project – it just needs to be carefully placed together. ### Connect with Sandra [Website](https://www.sandra-harper.com/?ref=theblkgze.com) / [Twitter](https://twitter.com/SarnieHarper?ref=theblkgze.com)