Tag Archives: Adama Delphine Fawundu

Black Women: Power and Grace

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Laurie says:

I wish I was in New York to see this show. It runs through the 22nd.  It is a rare opportunity to see this remarkable work from the Kamoinge photographers’ collective at the National Arts Club in New York.

The quotes are from a superb article in The Root by Veronica Webb:
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Delphine Fawundu
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Long before social media liberated unadulterated images of black women’s beauty, there was Kamoinge.

The Kamoinge photographers collective, founded in Harlem in 1963 under the direction of the venerable photographer Roy DeCarava, author of The Sweet Flypaper of Life, (has opened) its newest exhibition, “Black Women: Power and Grace,” Thursday night at the National Arts Club in New York.
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Delphine Diallo
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For Kamoinge, whose name comes from the Kenyan Gikuyu word meaning “people working together,” addressing issues around the lack of black photographers, as well as counteracting damaging stereotypical images with positive images of our beauty and culture, are as pressing for today as they were when Kamoinge’s first exhibition dedicated to the subject, “The Negro Woman,” opened in 1965.

Elegant photographs of black women, powerfully poised while tackling the everyday struggles of life, like taking the bus, showed our grace and glory, with black women shining in some of our nation’s darkest hours.

That same spirit of defiance, self-invention and affirmation inspired the newest show, “Black Women: Power and Grace.”

“Tell a friend, anyone who loves art, teenagers, anyone struggling with identity, or someone who needs some artistic inspiration,” wrote co-organizer and Kamoinge Vice President Russell Frederick via email regarding the show. “This exhibit is one for all generations to appreciate.”

There’s a lot to celebrate here—namely, the four new female members of Kamoinge on exhibit.
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Laylah Amatullah Barrayn
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Lola Flash explores LGBTQ themes. Delphine Diallo’s 2017 Women of New York portrait of a young Muslim girl is a particular standout, as is Delphine Fawundu’s self-portrait, What Do They Call Me, My Name Is Aunt Sara. Laylah Amatullah Barrayn’s images of religious and spiritual life in Senegal won her a coveted place in the collective among other longtime members like Ming Smith, the first black woman to have work purchased and exhibited by New York City’s Museum of Modern Art.

Barrayn told the New York Times: “I’ve been watching Kamoinge for most of my career, and I’ve seen its growth. I always felt being a part of Kamoinge was so far-fetched because there weren’t many women in the group.”…
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Betty Shabazz exiting Malcolm X’s funeral—a regal vision of strength and beauty; crying, yet composed, in the face of unspeakable outrage…

Photographer Cowans, 81, the co-founder and president of Kamoinge, who authored the image of Betty Shabazz at her husband’s funeral, told the Times: “Nothing like that had been done in the community before. … The black woman has been underrepresented. Here we are today, and we are still looking at black women negatively. We wanted to show their beauty and power.”

100 Women Photographers From The African Diaspora.

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Laurie says,

A new biannual journal, MFON, features 100 women photographers from across the African diaspora. The journal is important and the photography is varied and stunning. These women should be far better known.

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Samantha Box

From an article and interview in Dazed with Laylah Amatullah Barrayn & Adama Delphine Fawundu:
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Eman Helal

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In 1986, history was made when Jeanne Moutousammy-Ashe published Viewfinders: Black Women Photographers (Dodd Mead), the first book to showcase the history of African-American women behind the camera dating back dating back to 1866. It spanned more than a century of work, showcasing the work of artists whose work had gone largely unrecognised in photography, which the author described to the Chicago Tribune as a traditionally racist and sexist industry.

The book spoke to Laylah Amatullah Barrayn, a young photographer from Brooklyn, who wanted to see more. As years passed, nothing occurred – so Barrayn took it upon herself to be the change she wanted to see in the world. In 2006, she and photographer Adama Delphine Fawundu put together a prototype for the project that would become MFON: Women Photographers of the African Diaspora.
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-Fati AbuBakar

MFON is a biannual journal that [has] launched a book of the same name featuring work of 100 women from across the diaspora, including Ming Smith, Delphine Diallo, Émilie Régnier, Lauri Lyons, Noelle Théard, and Dr. Deborah Willis, who wrote the introduction. MFON is named for Mmekutmfon “Mfon” Essien (1967 – 2001) a visionary Nigerian-American photographer who died from breast cancer the day before her photographs from The Amazon’s New Clothes, opened at the Brooklyn Museum of Art in the acclaimed exhibition Committed to the Image: Contemporary Black Photographers…

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Helene Amouzou
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 “MFON is a historical document on the history of photography. It also serves as a global contemporary voice of women of different generations and genres. Since the publication of Viewfinders, there hasn’t been much of an update. Several generations of these photographers have passed and it was time to create a document around their works.”

  – Laylah Amatullah Barrayn & Adama Delphine Fawundu

The work is remarkable. It is worth seeing all of it.