Photos: Melvin McCray
Curators Howard Cash and Jamel Shabazz have assembled an intergenerational collection of black photographers to celebrate Black manhood at the Wilmer Jennings Gallery at Kenkeleba House on the Lower Eastside.
“This exhibition uses photography as a global language to bring us together as one in a time when we are so divided as a society,” said Shabazz at the exhibit’s opening. “When I think about the conditions of Black men in this country and how images have been utilized to dehumanize, it was important to bring about images that show Black men in a very dignified way.”
The exhibition features forty-four black photographers, including up-and-coming artists like Kay Hickman and Lamar Metcalf and more established artists like Leroy Henderson and Laylah Amutallah Barrayn. It also salutes the late great Kwame Brathwaite, who was instrumental in creating the Black is beautiful movement of the 1960s.
“We can use the camera as a weapon like Gordon did, a choice of weapons to change the narrative,” said Shabazz, referring to photographer Gordon Parks’ celebrated novel.
Melvin McCray, a photographer and former ABC News broadcast journalist, uses QR codes that, when scanned, open up videos to give the gallery goer an immersive experience. “When I can, I photograph and interview all of my subjects,” says McCray. “I want to know what’s in their hearts and souls,” McCray says he searched his archives and pulled out exclusive footage of interviews or recorded speeches by South African President Nelson Mandela, Congressman John Lewis, Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere, as well as some little-seen footage of President Barack Obama. To contextualize his photos, he offers a glimpse into his subjects’ inner thoughts.
The exhibition features a collection of 92 photographs by forty-four black photographers, including Laylah Amatullah Barrayn, Tau Battice, Rain Bermudez, Brian Branch-Price, John Brathwaite, Kwame Brathwaite, Kamel Brown, Larry Brown, Spencer Burnett, Howard Cash, Barron Claiborne, Rudy Collins, Christopher Cook, Adger Cowans, Malik Cumbo, Dee Dwyer, Donjai Gilmore, Malik James Glover, Bob Gore, Leroy Henderson, Kay Hickman, Melanie Hill, Raymond Holman Jr., Steven Irby, Debi Jackson, Glenda Jones, Lauri Lyons, Lamar Metcalf, Elijah Mogoli, Bill Moore, Ace Murray, Mansa Mussa, Hakim Mutlaq, Malique Payne, Douglas Pierce, Herb Robinson, Jamel Shabazz, Coreen Simpson, Idris Solomon, Chuck Stewart, Crystal Wiley Brown, Marcia Wilson, and Michael Young.
Artist Talk: Saturday, February 17, 2024, 2-4 pm
Gallery Hours: Wednesday to Saturday, 1 to 6 pm
