LOS ANGELES — “I’m a victim, brother. I’m a victim of 400 years of conditioning. The man has programmed my condition. Even my conditioning has been conditioned.” These words from a scene in Wendell B. Harris Jr.’s 1989 Black comedy-drama Chameleon Street echoed in my mind as I explored the Photography and the Black Arts Movement, 1955–1985 exhibition at the Getty’s West Pavilion. The experience felt like discovering hidden insights about a subject I thought I understood well.
The film scene, popularized as the opening of “Brown Skin Lady” (1998) by the rap duo Black Star, features a conversation between two men about how societal “brainwashing” shapes their expectations of Black beauty. As I viewed the art at the Getty, I felt a similar realization, albeit for different reasons.
Photography and the Black Arts Movement highlights those who redefined the Black American image, presenting it with pride, beauty, strength, and artistic courage. Featuring over 200 photographs, this traveling exhibition immerses viewers in the transformative power of imagery and the significance of artistic choices. Instead of focusing solely on the Black Arts Movement, it documents the act of chronicling this movement, capturing the artists’ decisions and offering context for these choices.
The exhibition is divided into eight themes: “Picturing The Self/Picturing The Movement,” “Fashioning The Self,” “Representing The Community,” “About Looking,” “Activism,” “In The News,” “Transformations in African Americans and Culture,” and “California Connections.” Each theme interacts with the others, portraying a demographic claiming the right to define itself. This demographic expresses its views on style, beauty, and its envisioned future. As the exhibition demonstrates, Black photographers captured these statements in images intended for global audiences.
The exhibition underscores the power of photography, which is often perceived as evidence. Photography documents existence and, in many cases, reveals its conditions. For Black people, documentation has been a crucial tool in their struggle for freedom, with photographs protesting against human oppression. Captured images, both moving and still, have been pivotal in the ongoing narrative of remembered individuals like Emmet Till, Rodney King, George Floyd, Sandra Bland, Philando Castille, Sonya Massey, and more. This exhibition presents the history of Black American photography while celebrating the empowerment it provides, reminding viewers of the influence they have over their own representation.
The exhibition includes works by renowned Black photographers like Gordon Parks and Carrie Mae Weems, as well as numerous other photographers who shaped the path for contemporary Black image makers. It acknowledges those who captured iconic album covers, street photographers, and those who worked in abstract, experimental, and photojournalistic styles.
Photography and the Black Arts Movement delivers a powerful impact despite its compact size. Spanning a pivotal three-decade period from 1955 to 1985, it captures the evolution of a celebratory aesthetic. Through photography, we see Malcolm X’s determined presence behind a podium in 1964, as documented by Doug Harris, alongside his interactions with school children in 1961, captured by Richard Saunders. The exhibition also presents the innocence of girlhood, from Barbara DuMetz’s “Kraft Foods Advertisement” (1977) featuring a straight-haired girl, to Anthony Barboza’s “Watts, Los Angeles” (1970s), depicting friends with beaded braids in casual attire.
We observe a community’s evolving self-perception. More importantly, as seen in Kwame Braithwaite’s “Untitled (Portrait, Reels as Necklace)” (1972), which promotes Black beauty and the means to celebrate it, we witness a demand for visibility.
Reflecting on Chameleon Street and my own preconceptions, I realized my view of impactful Black photography was limited, focusing only on well-known images and names. This exhibition provides a space to understand art’s power, as Toni Morrison described, to disrupt accepted norms. It documents how Black artists and visionaries crafted their image to envision their future. Photography serves two purposes: to show and to keep showing. These captured moments call to us again.
Photography and the Black Arts Movement, 1955-1985 remains on display at The Getty Museum (442 South La Brea Avenue, Los Angeles) until June 14. The exhibition is organized by the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC.
