Hello, my name is Nathaniel Stein, and I am the Curator of Photography and the curator of this exhibition. I will be reading the introduction for Working Together: The Photographers of the Kamoinge Workshop.

In 1963 a group of African American photographers based in New York City came together to form the Kamoinge Workshop. They chose the name Kamoinge—meaning “a group of people acting and working together” in the Gikuyu language of Kenya—to reflect their collective spirit and global outlook. Deeply committed to photography’s power as an art form, Kamoinge photographers responded to the world with pictures made from their own perspectives, in contrast to imagery common in art and popular media.

As the civil rights era and the Black Arts Movement developed around them, members met to critique one another’s photographs, exchange technical knowledge, and discuss politics. They debated questions of self-representation, including the responsibility to address experiences of Black people in their artwork. They organized exhibitions, produced portfolios, mentored youth, and supported their own artistic and professional growth at a time when racism and photography’s emerging status as an art medium narrowed opportunity for Black photographers in the United States. They sought mentorship from elders like the photographer Roy DeCarava, and they opened avenues for a subsequent generation of Black artists. The Kamoinge collective remains active to this day with an expanded membership.

This exhibition focuses on the Workshop’s formative decades—the 1960s and 1970s. The fourteen featured artists, nine of whom are living and working now, shaped Kamoinge together and remain central to its dialogue. They are Anthony Barboza, Adger Cowans, C. Daniel Dawson, Louis Draper, Albert R. Fennar, Ray Francis, Herman Howard, James Mannas Jr., Herbert Randall, Herb Robinson, Beuford Smith, Ming Smith, Shawn Walker, and Calvin Wilson.

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