Isaac Sutton, Moneta Sleet Jr., Johnson Publishing Company
Pictures Allowed: Yes
Kid Friendly: Yes
Open: Wednesday – Monday 10.00 -19.00
Price: €15/10
During the 1940s and 1950s Johnson Publishing played an instrumental role in defining Black America with publications such as Ebony and Jet. Using a catalogue of images and resources from the Johnson Publishing archives, Theaster Gates conceived "The Black Image Corporation".
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Jet was once coined as “the negro bible”, yet neither Jet or Ebony received the international attention and praise they deserved. This exhibition highlights a necessary revision of pop culture history and documents some of the earliest examples of black fashion photography.
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Central to the exhibition are the works of photographers Moneta Sleet Jr. and Isaac Sutton who created timeless editorial images for the publishing house. Many of the prints and photographs display images of Black women, actresses and models. The participatory exhibition provides the audience with an opportunity to freely explore the visual archives, choose and compile their own selection of photographs on the cabinets, and leave this behind for the next visitor to encounter.
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Included in the exhibition is a short video shot by Gates, “Michigan Avenue In Full Bloom”, which documents the architectural spaces of the Johnson Publishing House.
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The Black Image Corporation explores the fundamental legacy of the Johnson Publishing Company archives - which within its time has published more than four million images contributing to a multitude of conversations of black beauty, moulding the aesthetic of African American identity and personifying Black female power.
Pictures Allowed: Yes
Kid Friendly: Yes
Open: Tuesday -Saturday 10.00 -13.00 + 14.00 - 18.00
Njideka Akunyili Crosby began the ongoing series “The Beautyful Ones” in 2014, comprised of portraits of Nigerian children, many of which are derived from personal photographs - some including members of her family. The exhibition title is taken from the 1968 novel by Ghanaian writer Ayi Kwei Armah, The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born, which was influential on her childhood in Nigeria, where she lived up until the age of 16.
Akunyili Crosby has one of the most notable styles of her generation. She uses the acetone transfer technique for the photographic details in her pieces. These images often reference popular culture, Nigerian politics and the country's history with colonialism, and other stories that dominate our newsfeeds today.
Each portrait is comprised of an everyday scene - precise in style, bold in appearance, where certain accents draw our attention to the multifaceted subjects within the frame.
Njideka Akunyili Crosby, The Beautyful Ones” Series #7