Eyes That Commit

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 Collinsone of the few African American women working in photography at the beginning of the 20th centuryand 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.

RENÉE MUSSAI is Senior Curator at Autograph in London. A distinguished curator-scholar with a special interest in Black feminist and queer Afrodiasporic visual practices, she lectures and publishes widely on photography, cultural history, and curatorial activism.