Talks | Literary | Visual Art
The New Black Vanguard
- 7PM
Single Tickets
With Arielle Bobb-Willis, Micaiah Carter, Tyler Mitchell, Dana Scruggs
Moderated by Antwaun Sargent
Co-presented by BAM and Aperture
Antwaun Sargent celebrates the launch of The New Black Vanguard: Photography between Art and Fashion. In this new book and exhibition, the curator and art critic addresses a radical transformation taking place in fashion and art today: the featuring of the Black figure and Black runway and cover models in the media and art.
For this unique event Sargent occupies the host chair. He is joined by four distinctive photographers who are reshaping fashion photography today: Arielle Bobb-Willis, Micaiah Carter, Tyler Mitchell, and Dana Scruggs. One by one, each presents their work, discussing everything from the history of the commercial Black image to inclusivity (and exclusivity) in the fashion and art communities.
Presentations to be followed by audience Q&A and a book signing.
The New Black Vanguard publication is presented in partnership with Airbnb Magazine
Antwaun Sargent is a writer and critic based in New York City. His work has appeared in The New York Times, The New Yorker, The New York Review of Books, W, and Vogue, and he has contributed essays to museum and gallery publications for artists Ed Clark, Mickalene Thomas, Arthur Jafa, Deborah Roberts, and Yinka Shonibare. Sargent has co-organized a number of exhibitions and has participated in conversations at the Studio Museum in Harlem; Brooklyn Museum; Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver; Art Gallery of Toronto; and Harvard and Yale Universities.
Born and raised in New York City, with pit stops in South Carolina and New Orleans, photographer Arielle Bobb-Willis has been using the camera for nearly a decade as a tool of empowerment. Battling with depression from an early age, Bobb-Willis found solace behind the lens and has developed a visual language that speaks to the therapeutic benefits of creativity. Her work can be seen in a group show this December at the Foam Photography Museum in Amsterdam.
Tyler Mitchell is a photographer and filmmaker based in Brooklyn. His work has appeared in British Vogue, American Vogue, i-D, Dazed, and The New York Times, and his commercial clients include Calvin Klein, Givenchy, and Converse. His first self-published book, El Paquete (2015), documents the architecture and skateboard scenes in Havana. He was the first Black photographer to shoot the cover of Vogue in 2018, and in 2019 he was included on Forbes’ “30 Under 30” list.
Dana Scruggs is a New York-based photographer, originally from the South Side of Chicago. In 2016 she launched Scruggs Magazine, a print publication dedicated to her vision of the male form, and in 2018 she had her industry breakthrough shooting ESPN's Body Issue in 2018, becoming the first Black female photographer to photograph an athlete for the publication. Later that year, she became the first Black person to photograph the cover of Rolling Stone in its 50-year history. Her clients include Apple, Nike, The New York Times, GQ, and Essence.
Brooklyn-based photographer Micaiah Carter’s work is a singular alchemy of contemporary youth culture, fine art, and street style combined with his certainty that the simple act of representation can be a force for change. His work contains echoes of the Black Power movement and the work of Carrie Mae Weems, Viviane Sassen, Jamel Shabazz, and Alasdair McLellan. Carter is currently working on his first monograph, 95 48, inspired by photographs of his dad and his friends from the 1970s.