“To me, he has a painter’s sense of color and it makes the exhibition feel exuberant. I also think that he used color strategically to evoke an emotional glow around his subjects.”
A positive glow. Celebratory. - Catherine Walworth
In the 1960s, Kwame Brathwaite (1938-2023) used photography to promote “Black is Beautiful” through the artist collectives he helped create—the African Jazz Art Society and Studios (AJASS) and Grandassa Models.
Building on that legacy, this exhibition highlights the artist’s independent studio work in the 1970s. From shooting gorgeous, color-saturated portraits in his studio, to capturing musicians Nina Simone and Marvin Gaye mid-performance, new creative stories emerged with a new decade.