“The New Black Vanguard” is a group exhibition presented at the 52nd Les Rencontres d’Arles photography festival, from July 4 to September 26, 2021.
The group show curated by Antwaun Sargent involves artists whose vibrant portraits and conceptual images merge the genres of art and fashion photography to showcase the beauty and the bodies of Black individuals.
Photographs by Campbell Addy, Quil Lemons, and Tyler Mitchell, whose works have been in the traditional media, open up conversations around the representation of the Black body and Black lives as subject matter. This collective collaboration celebrates Black creativity and the intersection of art, fashion, and culture in photography.
“The New Black Vanguard” serves as a form of visual activism, to challenge the idea that Blackness is homogenous. It offers new perspectives through the medium of photography to present the notions of race and beauty, gender, and power.
