{"id":24130,"date":"2023-11-27T12:30:13","date_gmt":"2023-11-27T17:30:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/?p=24130"},"modified":"2023-12-10T07:27:42","modified_gmt":"2023-12-10T12:27:42","slug":"as-we-rise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/2023\/11\/27\/as-we-rise\/","title":{"rendered":"‘As We Rise’: Photos Of The \u2018Beauty And Power Of Black Life\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As a boy, growing up in Windsor, Canada, Kenneth Montague\u2019s parents took him to art exhibits in Windsor and across the border in Detroit. That is how the Jamaican Canadian first saw art like James Van Der Zee\u2019s 1932 photograph of a \u201cCouple in Raccoon Coats,\u201d posed alongside a gleaming Cadillac V-16 roadster parked along a Harlem street, a record of their beauty and success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u00a0 recognized that there was another way that Black folks lived that wasn\u2019t being publicly portrayed,\u201d the Toronto-based dentist and founder of Wedge Collection says in the catalogue for the riveting and inspiring exhibition \u201cAs We Rise: Photographs from the Black Atlantic,\u201d<\/a> showcasing his collection at Salem\u2019s Peabody Essex Museum from June 17 to Dec. 31, 2023. \u201cI really plugged into that idea from early on, and that was basically my introduction to art\u2014seeing reflections of Black life that were representations of who I was and aspired to be. This helped shape my own identity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Oumar
Oumar Ly, (clockwise from top left) “Untitled, Bush Portrait, Tissue, Podor, Senegal,” “Untitled, Bush Portrait, Woman, Podor, Senegal,” “Untitled, Bush Portrait, Boubou, Podor, Senegal,” “Bush Portrait, Renault, Podor, Senegal,” 1963-78.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Organized by Aperture in New York, and curated by Elliott Ramsey, the exhibition features more than 100 photos by Black artists from Canada, the Caribbean, Great Britain, the United States, South America, and throughout the African continent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1997, Montague began hosting exhibitions in a wedge-shaped space in his home. The Wedge Collection and Wedge Curatorial Projects grew out of those shows. \u201cFrom the outset, my mandate was to \u2018wedge\u2019 these lesser-known, underrepresented, and uncelebrated artists into the story of contemporary art and into the mainstream,\u201d he says in the catalogue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Xaviera
Xaviera Simmons, “Denver,” 2008, from As We Rise: Photography from the Black Atlantic\n(Aperture, 2021). Courtesy the artist and\nDavid Castillo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The exhibition features family portraits, parents and children, self-portraits, posed scenes, a Gordon Parks photo of a couple dressed in their Sunday best in Detroit in 1950, Seydou Keith\u2019s picture of two women perched on a Vespa in the 1950s, Henry Clay Anderson\u2019s portrait of a couple in leather coats on a motorcycle in the 1960s, Dawoud Bey\u2019s 1976 portrait of \u201cA Boy in Front of the Loew\u2019s 125th Street Movie Theater, Harlem,\u201d J.D. \u2018Okhai Ojelkere\u2019s 1970s documentation of the dazzling braids and buns of traditional Nigerian hairstyles that reemerged and evolved following the nation\u2019s independence from Britain in 1960, Tayo Yannick Anton\u2019s 2013 picture of a ecstatic Toronto hip-hop dance party for queer people of color, Jalani Morgan\u2019s 2014 photo of a Black Lives Matter protest in Toronto over the killing of Eric Garner by New York police.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Montague says he focuses his collecting on \u201cthe simplicity and beauty of daily life: Black hairstyles, people at a party on the beach, leisure time, etc. I grew up seeing images of Black folks historically in struggle or in some form of oppression. I was hell-bent on ensuring that my collection was not going to perpetuate that view, but rather show the beauty and power of Black life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

If this is the kind of coverage of arts, cultures and activisms you appreciate, please support Wonderland by contributing to Wonderland on Patreon<\/a>. And sign up for our free, occasional newsletter<\/a> so that you don’t miss any of our reporting. (All content \u00a9Greg Cook 2023 or the respective creato<\/em>rs.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\""As
“As We Rise: Photography from the Black Atlantic” at Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, 2023. (Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Henry
Henry Clay Anderson, “Portrait of a couple on a motorcycle outside of Anderson Photo Service Studio,” about 1960.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"James
James Barnor, “Drum Cover Girl Erlin Ibreck,\nKilburn, London,” 1966, from As We Rise: Photography from the Black Atlantic (Aperture, 2021). \u00a9 James Barnor \/ Courtesy Galerie Cl\u00e9mentine de la F\u00e9ronni\u00e8re.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Lebohang<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Dawit
Dawit L. Petros, “Sign,” 2003, from As We Rise:\nPhotography from the Black Atlantic (Aperture, 2021). Courtesy the artist\/Bradley Ertaskiran.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\""As
“As We Rise: Photography from the Black Atlantic” at Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, 2023. (Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Seydou
Seydou Ke\u00efta, Untitled, 1952\u20135.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Kennedi<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Samuel
Samuel Fosso, “\u201870s Lifestyle, 1975\u201378,” from As We Rise: Photography from the Black Atlantic (Aperture, 2021). \u00a9 Samuel Fosso,\ncourtesy JM.PATRAS\/PARIS.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Texas
Texas Isaiah, “My Name Is My Name I,” 2016,\nfrom As We Rise: Photography from the Black Atlantic (Aperture, 2021). \u00a9 Texas Isaiah.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Zun
Zun Lee, “Jebron Felder and his son Jae\u2019shaun\nat home, Harlem, New York,” September 2011,\nfrom As We Rise: Photography from the Black Atlantic (Aperture, 2021). Courtesy Zun Lee, from the Father Figure Project.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Jamel<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Dawit<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Mickalene
Mickalene Thomas, “Afro Goddess with Hand Between Legs,” 2006.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Jody
Jody Brand, “Moffie in Irma’s Garden,” 2017.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"June
June Clark, untitled, 1974.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Lebohang
Lebohang Kganye, (clockwise from top) “Re shapa setepe sa lenyalo II,” “Ka 2-phisi yaka e pinky II,” “Ke Bala kaka ke apere naeterese II,” “Setupung sa kana hae II,” 2013.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As a boy, growing up in Windsor, Canada, Kenneth Montague\u2019s parents took him to art exhibits in Windsor and across the border in Detroit. That is how the Jamaican Canadian first saw art like James Van Der Zee\u2019s 1932 photograph of a \u201cCouple in Raccoon Coats,\u201d posed alongside a gleaming Cadillac V-16 roadster parked along […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24183,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[100],"tags":[47],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24130"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24130"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24130\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24272,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24130\/revisions\/24272"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}