Eyes That Commit

by Mussai, Renee

• ISBN13: 9783791389271
• ISBN10: 3791389270
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2025-02-04
• Publisher: Prestel
• More Book Details

Summary

A major new publication looking at the rich trajectory of photographic practice that centres the work of Black female and non-binary artists from the late 19th century to the present day.

For decades, women have been overlooked in the cultural history of photography, especially Black female and genderfluid artists whose crucial contributions to this relatively young medium are often missing from prevailing narratives.
More than just a ‘corrective’, this stunning, image-led anthology features up to one hundred artists and photographers from diverse cultural backgrounds, geographies, and genres. Readers will encounter the pioneering works of Florestine Perrault Collins—one of the few African American women working in photography at the beginning of the 20th century—and iconic imagery by path-shaping artists and visual activists such as Ming Smith, Maud Sulter, Carrie Mae Weems, Lola Flash, Zanele Muholi, Mònica de Miranda, Rahima Gambo, and Aida Silvestri, as well as a remarkable constituency of creative practitioners working with self-portraiture, performance and collage such as Frida Orupabo, Ayana V. Jackson, Nona Faustine, Atong Atem, Hélène Amouzou, Lebohang Kganye, Sethembile Msezane, Heather Agyepong, Khadija Saye, Silvia Rosi and many others. This carefully curated visual gathering stands on its own as an impressive collection of examples of socially-engaged, imaginative and poetic global photographies.

Author Biography

Renée Mussai is Senior Curator and Head of Curatorial & Collection at Autograph (APB) in London. She lectures internationally on photography, visual culture, and curatorial activism and recently edited the award-winning monograph Lina Iris Viktor: Some Are Born to Endless Night—Dark Matter. Her writing has appeared in numerous artist monographs and publications Her past books include James Barnor: Ever Young and Glyphs: Acts of Inscription.