Here is a list of art books, essays, articles, videos, and community organizations that I have compiled which speak to the contributions of Black women to the history of photography in Jamaica and the larger Caribbean. This reading list is not meant to be exhaustive by any means, but rather reflects a set of works that I have learned from and referenced in my own ongoing research. I have included alternatives/ more accessible reading options as well as excerpts where available. There are many other seminal, critical works about the contributions of African-American women to the history of photography in the U.S. that are not included on this list mainly because they did not fall within the scope of my current research. If any of the books on this list are of interest to you, I whole-heartedly encourage you to seek out and learn from these many other titles which include: A Century of Black Photographers: 1840-1960 by Valencia Hollins Coar; Reflections in Black: A History of Black Photographers, 1840 to the Present by Deborah Willis; and The Black Female Body: A Photographic History by Carla Williams.
Copies should be available at your local or university library. Alternatively, I have included links to purchase your own copy for each resource listed below.
- MFON: Women Photographers of the Africana Diaspora curated by Adama Delphine Fawundu and Laylah Amatullah Barrayn (2017)
- MFON: Women Photographers of the African Diaspora is an exclusive and commemorative anthology committed to establishing and representing a collective voice of women photographers of African descent. The inaugural issue of MFON features over 100 women photographers across the Diaspora. MFON is inspired by the earlier works of Dr. Deborah Willis and Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe, Reflections in Black: A History of Black Photographers, 1840 to the Present and Viewfinders: Black Women Photographers, respectively. As such, this iconic publication includes an introduction by Willis and an afterward by Fayemi Shakur and Moutoussamy-Ashe. (source: mfonfoto.org)
- Since the inaugural issue is currently out of print, I have included an interview with the curators which speaks about their motivations and the process behind the creation of MFON: A New Book Gives Us the World as Seen by Black Female Photographers by Jacqueline Alemany.
- Jamaican Art: Then and Now by Petrine Archer Straw & Kim Robinson (2011)
- Jamaican Art: Then and Now is a revised edition of the first book ever produced on Jamaican Art— Jamaican art: An overview--with a focus on fifty artists (1990), also written by Petrine Archer Shaw. The revised edition traces the history and development of Jamaica’s multifaceted art movement. It is lavishly illustrated with over 200 full-page, full-color reproductions of works by Jamaica’s most established artists. Most importantly, building off of the contributions of David Boxer and Veerle Poupeye in Modern Jamaican Art (1998), this book represents artists working in a multiplicity of styles and modes, including academic, self-taught/ intuitive, surrealist, symbolist, impressionist, expressionist, and social-realist. (source: lmhpublishing.com)
- For alternative references about Jamaican art history and criticism please see:
- Jamaican Art, A Social History by Petrine Archer
- Facing the Nation: Art History and Art Criticism in the Jamaican Context by Andrea N. Douglas
- The Colors of Jamaican Art and Spirit of its Artists by Angie Kordic and Elena Martinique
- JAMAICA BY HAND & EYE - History of Jamaican Art by The Institute Of Jamaica
- Picturing the postcolonial nation: (inter)nationalism in the art of Jamaica, 1962-1975 by Claudia Hucke (2013)
- Picturing the postcolonial nation examines Jamaica's search for identity after independence (1962) from an art historical perspective, when colonial ties were broken and "artists embraced a new awareness of themselves, a sense of entitlement and individuality." To better understand this, Hucke dedicates the first chapter to nation-building before independence, and the second one to post independence cultural policies. The third and most extensive chapter is focused on the role played by the Contemporary Jamaican Artists' Association. The fourth chapter examines Jamaican art exhibitions abroad and their impact. An interesting aspect uncovered in this book is the disparity between the government's version of nationalism, heavily influenced by folk culture and African heritage, and the vision of others who ventured beyond ideological restrictions, incorporating influences from Europe, the US, and even Mexico. (source: Handbook of Latin American Studies in Library of Congress)
- An Eye for the Tropics: Tourism, Photography, and Framing the Caribbean Picturesque by Krista Thompson (2006)
- Illustrated with more than one hundred images, including many in color, An Eye for the Tropics is a nuanced evaluation of the aesthetics of the “tropicalizing images” and their effects on Jamaica and the Bahamas. Analyzing the work of specific photographers and artists who created tropical representations of Jamaica and the Bahamas between the 1880s and the 1930s, Thompson shows how their images differ from the English picturesque landscape tradition. Turning to the present, she examines how tropicalizing images are deconstructed in works by contemporary artists—including Christopher Cozier, David Bailey, and Irénée Shaw—at the same time that they remain a staple of postcolonial governments’ vigorous efforts to attract tourists. (source: dukeupress.edu)
- Also suggested: Shine The Visual Economy of Light in African Diasporic Aesthetic Practice by Krista Thompson (2015)
- Image Matters: Archive, Photography and the African Diaspora in Europe by Tina Campt (2012)
- In Image Matters, Tina M. Campt traces the emergence of a black European subject by examining how specific black European communities used family photography to create forms of identification and community. At the heart of Campt's study are two photographic archives, one composed primarily of snapshots of black German families taken between 1900 and 1945, and the other assembled from studio portraits of West Indian migrants to Birmingham, England, taken between 1948 and 1960. Campt shows how these photographs conveyed profound aspirations to forms of national and cultural belonging. In the process, she engages a host of contemporary issues, including the recoverability of non-stereotypical life stories of black people, especially in Europe, and their impact on our understanding of difference within diaspora; the relevance and theoretical approachability of domestic, vernacular photography; and the relationship between affect and photography. Through its reflection on what vernacular photography enabled black Europeans to say about themselves and their communities, Image Matters becomes an excellent resource to understand how to view, interpret, and appreciate vernacular photography from the African Diaspora. (source: dukeupress.edu)
- Pictures from Paradise: A Survey of Contemporary Caribbean Photography edited by Melanie Archer and Mariel Brown (2012)
- Pictures from Paradise examines the ways in which contemporary art photography has evolved within the English-speaking Caribbean, rising beyond depictions of idyllic scenes to tackle more complex social, racial, political and gender issues.[...] The first publication focused exclusively on contemporary Caribbean photography, Pictures from Paradise features a critical essay by O’Neil Lawrence, assistant curator of the National Gallery of Jamaica, and more than 200 images from 18 established and up-and-coming artists, including Ewan Atkinson, Marvin Bartley, Terry Boddie, Holly Bynoe, James Cooper, Renee Cox, Gerard Gaskin, Abigail Hadeed, Gerard Hanson, Nadia Huggins, Marlon James, Roshini Kempadoo, O’Neil Lawrence, Ebony Patterson, Radcliffe Roye, Alex Smailes, Stacey Tyrell and Rodell Warner. (source: Robert & Christopher Publishers)
- 90 Degrees of Shade: Image and Identity in the West Indies: Over 100 Years of Photography in the Caribbean edited by Stuart Baker (2014)
- This deluxe large-format volume features hundreds of fascinating and unique photographs that span 100 years of Caribbean history, culture, industry and more, as well as the subsequent diaspora of its people to America, England and elsewhere. In 90 Degrees of Shade the photographs show the many ways in which the region has been portrayed, from tropical backdrop of tourism and hedonism to colonial outpost and revolutionary threat in North America's own backyard. The introduction is by Paul Gilroy, author of The Black Atlantic, There Ain't No Black in the Union Jack and Black Britain:A Photographic History (2004), among others. Note: Rather than focusing on individual artists or regions, this curated collection of images is most concerned with the aesthetics of Caribbean photography and its general reflection of Caribbean history/ culture. (source: barnesandnoble.com)
- SX Visualities
- sx visualities (sxv) is the Small Axe Project platform devoted to visual practice and its place in Caribbean cultural, social, and political life. Since its inception more than twenty years ago, the print journal Small Axe, has been concerned to explore ways in which visual practice, and more generally Caribbean visual culture, has been at the center of the experimental cultural, political, and aesthetic imagination of the region and the diaspora. The sx visualities platform aims to expand and build on the connection the Small Axe Project has with visual artists to host individual and collaborative projects, presenting visual culture across a range of genres and forms: from photography to the moving image, from performance to architecture, from soundscapes to painting and sculpture. (source: smallaxe.net)
- Picture Dis - National Online Album of Jamaica
- The National Library of Jamaica1 offers one of the region’s most extensive collections of Jamaican and West Indian reference materials including photographic, print and digitised images. In 2008, a partnership with the Power Broker International Placement strand of the Cultural Leadership Programme (CLP)2 has enabled the National Library to make some of its content more accessible with the creation of Picture Dis: The National Online Library of Jamaica. Picture Dis is a digital image collection of the people, places and products of Jamaica, organized by parishes. (source: Picture Dis)
- Other Caribbean photo archives:
- Black Women Photographers
- Black Women Photographers aims to disrupt the notion that it is difficult to discover and commission Black creatives. Dedicated to providing a resource for the industry’s gatekeepers. Launched in July of 2020, Black Women Photographers (BWP) is a global community of over 1,000 active members from around the world. BWP aims to disrupt the notion that it is difficult to discover and commission Black creatives. Through honest dialogue via social conversations and workshops, the platform seeks to ensure that more Black women and non-binary photographers are empowered to make the industry as colorful as it ought to be. Black Women Photographers is a home for Black women to receive proper recognition, and most importantly, get hired. Dedicated to providing a resource for the industry’s gatekeepers, it supports its members through promoting their work in an active database distributed to photo editors, directors, curators, and art buyers. The collective also offers free educational resources such as regular programing of webinars, workshops, trainings, and portfolio reviews. (source: blackwomenphotographers.com)
- Other photo collectives for Black and Indigenous people of color: