The Work of the Kamoinge Workshop

Anthony Barboza, “Kamoinge Members” (1973), gelatin silver print: sheet, 13 15/16 × 11 1/16 inches, image, 9 13/16 × 10 inches (image courtesy Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; © Anthony Barboza)

The Kamoinge Workshop is a collective of Black photographers that joined together in the 1960s to create their own art ecosystem. “Kamoinge Members” (1973) by Anthony Barboza, a founding member and its president from 2005-2016, celebrates the original members (Kamoinge).

Take a virtual tour of select works alongside audio from the photographers at the Whitney Museum (free).

About the Kamoinge Workshop

Kamoinge was started in 1963 by 14 Black New York photographers. The name Kamoinge comes from the Gikuyu language of Kenya and means “a group of people acting together.” Their mission statement is “to HONOR, document, preserve, and represent the history and culture of the African Diaspora with integrity and respect for humanity through the lens of Black photographers” (Kamoinge website).

Together, they opened a space in Harlem in 1965, which became the center for group exhibitions, collaborations, and events with guest speakers from across the art and photography space. This space was necessary; during this time, work by Black photographers was often overlooked by established institutions in art and media (Hyperallergic). Their work documented Black culture in its own gaze, highlighting the spirit of Harlem, centering leaders like Malcolm X, Miles Davis, and Grace Jones, and capturing the essence of the Civil Rights Movement.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Ming Smith, the first female photographer in the group, noted the challenges of being a Black woman photographer during the era. “Being a black woman photographer was like being nobody. It was just my camera and me. I worked to capture black culture, the richness, the love. That was my incentive. It wasn’t like I was going to make money from it, or fame — not even love, because there were no shows” (FT).

To this day, Kamoinge has continued to elevate Black leaders in photography, photojournalism, motion pictures, and multi-media (Kamoinge website).

It is our endeavor to produce significant visual images of our time. In the area of human relationships, political and social interactions and the spiritual world of pure imagery, the needs are basically the same; that being the establishment of contact with self is the key, the source from which all messages flow. We speak of our lives as only we can.

Herbert Randall, Untitled (Lower East Side, NY), c. 1960. Gelatin silver print: sheet, 10 15/16 × 14 in. (27.8 × 35.6 cm); image, 8 7/8 × 13 1/2 in. (22.5 × 34.3 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase with funds from the Photography Committee 2020.56. © Herbert Randall

This organization and its work are just as relevant now as ever. As Emmanuel Iduma notes in Artforum, white gatekeepers at major institutions continue to undervalue Black work, as evident in how the Whitney disrespected the See In Black collective over their ill-informed exhibition (NPR). Black visibility must be protected on both sides of the lens and deserves to be held in the highest regard.

Reflection Questions

• How much content related to Black history do you consume that's created by Black artists?
• What role does photography play in shaping our perception on historic moments? Consider what photographs you've encountered in your life, and their significance to you.
• Photography is much more readily accessible today because of image-based social media accounts, like Instagram, and the proliferation of smartphone devices. How do you support the photographers that you follow on social media? How do you honor their work?

Learn More

• READ: A photography series of Black soldiers in the Civil War (Smithsonian)
• FOLLOW: See In Black, a collective of Black photographers that raised funds for five organizations working to dismantle systemic, race-based oppression (seeinblack.com)
• READ: The Art World's Hottest Critic On The Five Black Photographers Who Influenced Him (Buzzfeed)
• BUY: The New Black Vanguard by Antwuan Sargent (Aperture)