Visions of Blackness

Grappling with the visual representations of African-Americans throughout history, contemporary artists Dawoud Bey, John Edmonds and Wardell Milan present complex and poetic visions of Blackness in their work. These African-American artists deeply consider how photographs can relay something authentic about the African-American experience and identity. Artworks by each artist were recently acquired by the AGO and will be on view on Level 1 in the Robert & Cheryl McEwen Gallery (Gallery 129) from October 31, 2020 to April 18, 2021.

Presented in collaboration with the Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival, Dawoud Bey, John Edmonds, Wardell Milan brings together compelling photographic works by each artists.From their unique perspectives, these three artists from three generations, working in a range of visual modes, offer powerful political commentary.Take a look below to see what Bey, Edmonds and Milan bring to the AGO Collection.

Dawoud Bey

American photographer Dawoud Bey began photographing in Harlem in 1975. From his series Night Coming Tenderly, Black, Bey’s work Untitled #20 (Farmhouse and Picket Fence II) imagines the landscape as enslaved people moved carefully through the night toward the Underground Railroad and the liberation it offered.

Dawoud Bey, Untitled #20 (Farmhouse and Picket Fence II), 2017. From the series Night Coming Tenderly, Black (2016–2017). Gelatin silver print, 121.9 x 149.9 cm. Art Gallery of Ontario, Purchase, with funds from the Photography Curatorial Committee, 2019. © Dawoud Bey 2019/2251.

John Edmonds

Emerging photographer John Edmonds explores the act of seeing and being seen in relation to the representation of Black subjectivity. Edmonds challenges stereotypes of Black male identity in his series Untitled [Du-rags]. In the series, Edmonds photographs his models from behind, focusing attention on the du-rag and leaving the subject’s identity unknown. As part of the exhibition, you can see the work Untitled (Du-rag 3) from the series.

John Edmonds, Untitled (Du-Rag 3), 2017. Archival pigment print on Japanese silk, 150.5 x 107.5 cm. Art Gallery of Ontario, Purchased with the assistance of Art Toronto 2017 Opening Night Preview, 2017. © John Edmonds 2017/42.

Wardell Milan (image at top)

Artist Wardell Milan combines drawing, painting, photography and collage to bring to life fractured bodies cast in scenes of freedom and desire, conflict and violence. Milan engages with the visual record he has inherited as a gay, Black man. In his series Parisian Landscapes, Milan references Robert Mapplethorpe’s homoerotic photographs of Black men, published as Black Book in 1986, recasting the Black figures in collages, returning his gaze, rendering them newly whole. From the Parisian Landscapes series, you can see the work, Michael Ross, on view in the exhibition.

Dawoud Bey, John Edmonds, Wardell Milan is on view on Level 1 in the Robert & Cheryl McEwen Gallery (Gallery 129), October 31, 2020 until April 18, 2021.