Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
Arts & Entertainment
'It Should've Happened A Long Time Ago': Whitney Retrospective Gives Black Photographers Their Due
By
Danny Lewis
Published Dec 20, 2020
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
View all 5
By
Danny Lewis
Published Dec 20, 2020
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
In the 1960s, a group of Black photographers from New York City began gathering in kitchens, living rooms, and galleries to critique each other's work. According to one of the workshop’s founders and its current president, Adger Cowans, they basically began as “bull sessions” where photographers would talk shop.
“Sitting around, you know, eating chili and drinking wine, and talking about cameras and how to shoot,” Cowans said.
Now their work is the subject of a retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art, but for some, it's a bittersweet moment for some of the featured artists.
"Working Together: The Photographers of the Kamoinge Workshop" showcases a collection of works from the 1960s, when the group coalesced out of the informal gatherings.
The Kamoinge Workshop got its name from the Gikuyu language of Kenya—“kamoinge” means "a group of people acting together"—and many of the early members say it was like a family. But while the group’s early days were more informal, when it came to talking about each other's work...well, there's little as harsh as familial honesty.
“When it came time for me to show my photographs, they were highly dismissed,” said longtime street photographer Beuford Smith, who joined Kamoinge in 1965. “‘This is nothing,’ you know, ‘You gotta do better than this,’ and I was kinda hurt! But I said, no I gotta come back.”
For the ones who stuck around like Smith, Kamoinge was a welcome space for Black photographers to explore their art. Carrie Springer, who curated the exhibition for the Whitney, said the work on display showcases a variety of techniques and subjects that the workshop’s members experimented with.
“They were thinking about composition and pattern and light and shadow and all of the elements that go into photography,” said Springer.
In the gallery, the photographs are grouped by theme, and range from street shots that document Black life, to the crowds at a Malcolm X rally, to more surreal, abstract images, all made at a time when Black photographers were mostly ignored by the art establishment.
But some of the surviving founders say they have mixed feelings about a retrospective of the group, because they feel like they were ignored during the prime of their careers.
“On a personal level, you know . . . I’m not impressed,” Cowans said. “It should have happened a long time ago. We live in a very racist society, and I think they haven’t been fair with the African-Americans in terms of the art world.”
Similarly, Smith says the exhibition itself is bittersweet because it was put together in the wake of the death of one of Kamoinge’s founders, Louis Draper. Smith also believes framing it as a retrospective risks anchoring their work in the past, even though he, Cowans, and their colleagues are still active photographers, and Kamoinge has continued to act as an incubator for contemporary Black photographers.
“I would like for this to open up a door for the critics, or the powers that be, or whatever to say ‘Okay, are there any new members? What are they doing now?’” said Smith.
"Working Together: The Photographers of the Kamoinge Workshop" is at the Whitney through March 28th.
Tagged
Kamoinge Workshop
photography
whitney museum
Danny Lewis
Danny Lewis is a former Gothamist and WNYC reporter.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE arts-entertainment
Will Barnes and Noble in the East Village spell doom for smaller shops? It's complicated.
Independent booksellers are grappling with whether the big-box chain is a threat or an ally in the fight against Amazon.
By
Sonia Rao
Published Oct 16, 2026
Can eligible NYC singles find love with 30 minutes and some really spicy food?
We went to the Spiciest Supper Club singles night to take the temperature of New York City's dating scene.
By
Elizabeth Shwe
and
James Ramsay
Arts & Entertainment
Can eligible NYC singles find love with 30 minutes and some really spicy food?
We went to the Spiciest Supper Club singles night to take the temperature of New York City's dating scene.
By
Elizabeth Shwe
and
James Ramsay
How the NYC Marathon has changed in the last 50 years
By
Hannah Frishberg
A visit to Art of Play, the Brooklyn store in an animatronic bird beef with Kelly Clarkson
By
Sonia Rao
The hottest way to show you're an authentic New Yorker is… riding a Citi Bike?
By
Lindsay Lee Wallace
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .