Title: Working together : Louis Draper and the Kamoinge Workshop /
Authors: Eckhardt, Sarah L.; Draper, Louis H., 1935-2002.; Draper, Louis H., 1935-2002; Willis, Deborah, 1948-; Duganne, Erina; Crawford, Romi; Mason, John Edwin; Gaskins, Bill, 1953-; Cochran, Sharayah; Virginia Museum of Fine Arts; Whitney Museum of American Art; J. Paul Getty Museum; Cincinnati Art Museum
Year: 2020
Subjects: Draper, Louis H., Exhibitions.; Draper, Louis H., Criticism and interpretation.; Draper, Louis H., Themes, motives.; Kamoinge Inc. Exhibitions.; Kamoinge Inc. Criticism and interpretation.; Kamoinge Inc. Themes, motives.; African American photographers New York (State) New York Exhibitions.; Photography, Artistic Exhibitions.; African American art United States Exhibitions.; African Americans in art Exhibitions.; African American photographers; Photography, Artistic; United States
Abstract: "Inspired by the archive of Richmond native Louis Draper, VMFA has organized an unprecedented exhibition that chronicles the first twenty years of the Kamoinge Workshop, a group of African American photographers he helped to found in 1963. More than 180 photographs by fifteen of the early members--Anthony Barboza, Adger Cowans, Danny Dawson, Roy DeCarava, Louis Draper, Al Fennar, Ray Francis, Herman Howard, Jimmie Mannas Jr., Herb Randall, Herb Robinson, Beuford Smith, Ming Smith, Shawn Walker, and Calvin Wilson--reveal the vision and commitment of this remarkable group of artists. When the collective began in New York City, they selected the name Kamoinge, which means "a group of people acting and working together" in Gikuyu, the language of the Kikuyu people of Kenya. They met weekly, exhibited and published together, and pushed each other to expand the boundaries of photography as an art form during a critical era of Black self-determination in the 1960s and 1970s. The group organized several shows in their own gallery space, in addition to exhibitions at the Studio Museum in Harlem and the International Center for Photography. They were also the driving force behind The Black Photographers Annual, a publication founded by Kamoinge member Beuford Smith, which featured the work of a wide variety of Black photographers at a time when mainstream publications offered them few opportunities. In the continuing spirit of Kamoinge, Shawn Walker, Beuford Smith, Herb Robinson, and Tony Barboza have also made significant archival contributions and are among the nine members who recorded oral histories to provide the fullest account of the group's first two decades. In addition, through a generous grant from the National Endowment of the Humanities, VMFA has digitized the Draper archive--which will be available online."
Contents: Director's Forward -- Preface / by Deborah Willis -- Curator's Remarks -- Louis Draper's History of the Kamoinge Workshop, 1972 -- An Introduction to Working Together / by Sarah L. Eckhardt -- Kamoinge Workshop Portfolio No. 1 -- Kamoinge Workshop Portfolio No. 2 -- A History of the Komoinge Workshop (1962-82) / by Sarah L. Eckhardt -- Kamoinge Artists' Book -- Before Kamoinge : Louis Draper's Artistic Formation / by Sarah L. Eckhardt -- Unlearning Street Photography from the Kamoinge Workshop / by Erina Duganne -- Reading Between the Photographs : Serious Sociality in the Kamoinge Workshop / by Romi Crawford -- The Sounds They Saw : Kamoinge and Jazz / by John Edwin Mason -- Do for Self! : Art, Commerce, Community, and the Kamoinge Workshop / by John Edwin Mason -- True & Free : A Creation Story of the Black Photographers Annual / by Bill Gaskins -- Catalogue Plates -- Biographies / by Sharayah Cochran -- Chronology / by Sharayah Cochran -- Select Bibliogrphay -- Index.