Philip Martin Gallery is pleased to present "My Village | New York," an exhibition of newly released works by legendary photographer Kwame Brathwaite (b. 1938, New York). The show focuses on the people of New York, the city in which Brathwaite was born, and in which he continues to live today.
Kwame S. Brathwaite, Director of The Kwame Brathwaite Archive, notes that the title of the exhibition, "My Village | New York," takes its inspiration from the well-known African proverb, "It takes a village to raise a child," commenting that, "Many of the works in this exhibition center on the child's gaze, respecting the perspective of children. At the same time the work ponders questions like How does the environment inform their choices? How does their reaction to what is happening within their environment inform their views on the world, and How does our response to the world we live in shape their outlook on life? My father makes these images in a spirit of joy, we see that sense of play, in their neighborhoods, where there is comfort, home, protection and security. They are their truest selves, in their own village”. Works like "Untitled (Kids Playing with Slingshots, Harlem, NY)" (1971) and "Untitled (Children on Swing Set, Harlem, NY)" (1971) find boys and girls at play in their neighborhood, exploring possibilities and creating new ones. "Untitled (Ndola Brathwaite in Front of a Community Mural, Harlem, NY)" (1972) shows Brathwaite's daughter Ndola, learning her heritage, enjoying weekend activities in Harlem.
Brathwaite's belief in the activism of the everyday - fashion and music, theater, advertising, magazines, record covers and other popular images - is evident in photographs like, "Untitled (Clara L. Buggs wears her hair in a Zulu style)" (1962). In July 1963, this image appeared in a cover article for Liberator magazine, a Black nationalist publication with a loyal following across the United States. Writing from Folsom Prison in June 1965, Black Panther leader Eldridge Cleaver commented, "I have long been interested in the Grandassa Models from the point of view of the great work which they are doing to destroy the old myths and false conceptions concerning the beauty of the Black woman – particularly the beauty of her hair. The Grandassa Models have done a lot and, from all indications will continue working to firmly establish a standard of Black Beauty, which is so badly needed.”
Historian Tanisha Ford writes that AJASS members and Grandassa Models, "were calling themselves African and Black long before those terms became common in American racial vernacular. AJASS members were the woke set of their generation...Grandassa models wanted to convince everyday Black women and men that African fashions were cool. It was part of ‘thinking Black.’" Brathwaite's photographs present artists, activities and his fellow community members actively engaged in the struggle for rights and representation. A 1964 image, "Untitled (Bike Ride on 125th Street, Harlem, NY)," shows a rider, his hat festooned with flowers, an American flag on his handlebars, riding down Harlem's famous thoroughfare past the New York offices of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). On his saddle bag, an image of John F. and Jackie Kennedy, memorializes the fallen president at the moment of Freedom Summer.
"Untitled (Cannonball Adderley, Great Northern Hotel. Listening to playback 2)," shows the saxophone legend in a moment of thoughtfulness, creativity, and determination. Brathwaite and his brother, Elombe Brath, were both keenly interested in the ways in which popular media could be used to fashion and advance social justice. They recruited jazz legends like Cannonball Adderly from the delicatessens downtown to play uptown at Small's Paradise in Harlem, or Club 845 in the Bronx. In addition to music, traditional African dance, Black Theater, and political talks would be featured alongside a celebration of Black fashion and beauty. In Kwame Brathwaite's work, we see the joy and curiosity of children, the responsibility of adults, and our shared task to make the world a better place.
There will be a webinar conversation with Kwame S. Brathwaite, Director of The Kwame Brathwaite Archive, Friday, July 8 at 9am PST/12 noon EST.
Kwame Brathwaite (b. 1938, New York, NY) is currently the subject of major touring exhibition, “Kwame Brathwaite: Black Is Beautiful.” The exhibition opens at New-York Historical Society (New York, NY) this fall. “Kwame Brathwaite: Black Is Beautiful.” premiered at the Skirball Cultural Center (Los Angeles, CA); and travelled to the Museum of the African Diaspora (San Francisco, CA); Columbia Museum of Art (Columbia, SC); Blanton Museum of Art (Austin, TX); Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, MI); (Reynolda House, Durham, NC) with additional institutions forthcoming. A monograph of the same title, produced by the Aperture Foundation, was released May 2019 with essays by Deborah Willis, Professor and Chair of the Department of Photography and Imaging at Tisch School of the Arts of New York University and Tanisha C. Ford, Associate Professor of Black American Studies and History at the University of Delaware. Brathwaite's work is featured in the touring exhibition, “Black American Portraits,” which opened at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, (Los Angeles, CA); and travels to Spelman College Museum of Art (Atlanta, GA); and Memphis Brooks Museum of Art (Memphis, TN). Brathwaite's work recently appeared in “This Tender, Fragile Thing” at Jack Shainman Gallery (Kinderhook, NY); His work has recently been acquired by such institutions as Santa Barbara Museum of Art (Santa Barbara, CA); Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Los Angeles, CA); Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (Houston, TX); Minneapolis Institute of Art (Minneapolis, MN); Minnesota Museum of American Art (St. Paul, MN); Weisman Art Museum (Minneapolis, MN); Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University (Chicago, IL); Pérez Art Museum Miami (Miami, FL); Columbia Museum of Art (Columbia, SC); National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution (Washington, DC); Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (Philadelphia, PA); Rhode Island School of Design Museum (Providence, RI); Reynolda House (Durham, NC); New Orleans Museum of Art (New Orleans, LA); The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College (Saratoga Springs, NY); Museum of the City of New York (New York, NY); The Studio Museum in Harlem (New York, NY); Museum of Modern Art (New York, NY); Whitney Museum of American Art (New York, NY); MIT List Visual Arts Center (Cambridge, MA); and Sharjah Art Museum (Sharjah, United Arab Emirates). Corporate collections include JPMorgan Chase Art Collection (New York, NY) and Sidley Austin LLP (New York, NY). Brathwaite’s work has recently appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, Vogue, New York Post, New York Magazine, Aperture, and other publications. Brathwaite lives and works in New York, NY.
Philip Martin Gallery is open Tuesday - Saturday from 10-5. For additional images, or information please email info@philipmartingallery.com, or call 310-559-0100. Philip Martin Gallery is located at 2712 S. La Cienega Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90034 in the Culver City area of Los Angeles between Venice Blvd. and Washington Blvd., just south of the 10 Freeway.
