âTake Beautiful Pictures of Our Peopleâ
Born in 1960s Harlem, the Kamoinge collective was influential in Black photography but ignored by the mainstream until recently. This exhibition should change that.
Anthony Barboza photographed “Kamoinge Members” in 1973. Back row, from left: Albert R. Fennar, Ray Francis, Herbert Randall, C. Daniel Dawson, Beuford Smith, Herb Robinson, Adger Cowans and Anthony Barboza. Front row, from left: Herman Howard, Ming Smith, James Mannas Jr., Louis Draper, Calvin Wilson and Shawn Walker.Credit.Anthony Barboza and Whitney Museum of American Art
By Siddhartha Mitter
Published Dec. 22, 2020Updated Dec. 23, 2020
Shawn Walker was up on 125th Street with Louis Draper and Ray Francis, hanging out and taking pictures. It was the summer of 1964 and the friends, in their 20s, were members of a fledgling photography collective in Harlem called the Kamoinge Workshop. Thatâs when the celebrated photographer Roy DeCarava walked up. The works