In this talk, portrait photographer Hakeem Adewumi discusses his practice and how he subverts traditional notions of photography. Adewumi's work invites viewers to reimagine and reconfigure what they know about blackness, by using "anti-portraiture" to withhold information that would make his subjects more legible to the audience.
This conversation took place as a part of AGBS' programming for The Black Index, curated by Dr. Bridget R. Cooks. The show was on view in the Christian-Green Gallery from September 16th - December 11th, 2021. This traveling exhibition is currently on view at Hunter College in New York City through April 3rd, 2022.
Adewumi, Hakeem. Kitchen and Comb (2), 2020.
Courtesy of the artist.
"I'm always trying to manipulate how I'm seen and how I'm viewed in photography because I don't think that we truly know who people are, and we don't allow people to be multiples at once..." - Hakeem Adewumi
