It's one thing to be a female and feeling represented in this industry, but it's a whole different thing to be a black female, trying to acquire recognition and voice in photography. How many can you name from the top of your head? For the first time in 30 years, there is a substantial body of work to give an international representation to women of African descent. MFON, "an exclusive and commemorative publication," has collated stories and photographs from over 100 women of African descent, to kick off their first issue, "MFON: Women Photographers of the African Diaspora."
The beauty of this grand project is that it also contains voices of women from academic, journalism, and other arts backgrounds. These women work within different genres, are of various ethnicities and ages, contributing to a truly diverse display of work that celebrates different identities and their ways of telling stories, ranging from fine art to photojournalism and beyond.
Image by Ian Dooley via Unsplash.
This project is aimed not only at photographers or art enthusiasts, but also as a legacy to the youngest generations. Women are sharing their stories, which act as a historical documentation covering various issues, such as racism and identity.
MFON do not intend to just stop there; they have also developed "MFON Legacy Grant," which will see "emerging black women photographers of African descent" celebrated and awarded. It's inspiring to see that more and more women will be encouraged to display their works of art, even more so because MFON's application process is not confined to those who can afford to enter, instead it's a "no-fee application process" and as such provides a fair opportunity to women, regardless of their financial background. It'll be exciting to see the vast range of work submitted.
Lead image by Autumn Goodman via Unsplash.
[via MFONfoto]
Anyone of any race or "color" can post on Fstoppers as long as the site is not blocked in their country. The Fstoppers team features good photographers...it doesn't matter what your race or color is. How about getting good first then coming back and trying to get featured for being good and not just because you feel special or more important than others.
this is racism. sorry white woman or all men in all shapes and sizes. its black woman only. thats discrimination and racism. a very very bad thing when its no longer about your skill and the hard work you have put into your photography and no longer about your photography but about you, the black female photographer. lets think about it,. is it about the Art or about the artist ? disgusting . what would you say if instead of black woman it would say white men only ?
so you're mad that something was given to a group of under represented people when they are 9.5/10 shut out of anything else. Makes no sense. Would you have been happier if it was just open to women or was it the (Voice to Black Female Photographers) that really got you. Always disappointed by the way some of you guys jump of any post that involves or has to do with a person of color. Just like with the article of the guy that was shot while trying to get his stolen camera back. You guys are BIG MAD.
Don't start with this person. Just search their past comments. Pretty sure their trolling or huge Rush fans.
im against racism or discrimination full stop. if your good you will succeed. example of non white top photographers. John Edmonds, Gerald Cyrus, David Alekhuogie, Shamayim, Endia Beal, Joshua Rashaad McFadden (love his work) Devin N Morris, Michael McCoy, Chandra McCormick, Texas Isaiah, Jasmine Murrell, Kwasi Boyd-Bouldin.
but i notice that there are no eskimo or chinese photographers represented, and OMG, did i just notice that FStoppers does not have a tutorial shot by a black lady or chinese ?
its very easy to shout racism or like david kalonick does shut people out or up but these days its the quality of work and your network that gets you places as it should. not the color of your skin.
check out these black female photographers. they made it because of the quality of their work. LaToya Ruby Frazier, Coreen Simpson, Deborah Willis, Lorna Simpson.
david stephen kalonick, your just a racist.
Dude, calm down. MFON wants to recognize talented black female artist. You're getting all salty and make it an issue. Should we ask your parents to see if you can submit work? lol
Did you notice the down votes on your trolling posts ?
Dennis, arguing on a thread will get us nowhere. You’re getting upset because a group of people are making a book to give notice to talented artist. Your view on it is your right and that’s fine. I didn’t help the situation by going for the knees with my original comment. When I get upset I do stupid things like said comment.
Let’s start over. Do you really believe that a group of black female artist shouldn’t be allowed to do something like this? Do you think that in a sea of artist that wanting a tiny bit of exposure by having this album might shed light to some really talented artist? How is this wrong? I don’t think it’s a race issue.
first comment you attack,. bad move and not very constructive.
but okay,.let me explain.
first paragraph of the post places a black woman in a "victim" state.
this was the reason for this book and grant.
but what if that woman was white, 6e generation born on the African continent? would she be ruled out as being not black enough ?
if they would have made a book showing images from the best photographers coming from this continent not using color, race or gender to discriminate on i would applaud this initiative. now you are ruled out on gender if you are a man and maybe on color if you are not black enough. how about a mixed race woman, can she be part of this ?
for me, bottom line, if you discriminate based on the color of someones skin, their gender, race or any other feature you are a racist, discriminating and in violation of the human rights act of 1948.
Here come the conservabros
Why must we do this? Photography is colorblind. When people look at photographs they either connect with it or they don’t. The person taking the photo is of no consequence. Why is our current society constantly looking for ways to interject race into everything.
Photography might be colourblind, but photography's history is dominated by white, middle class male privilege. Its inherent patriarchal heteronormativity perpetuates its patriarchal heteronormative tendencies.
Oh man, we got a white knight in here.
😂
That's nobody's problem. If you are of a race or "color" that feels entitled then just go and get a camera and start working instead of expecting a free pass. All those "white middle class males" never had nothing handed to them on a silver(or other color) platter. They worked for it.
That's a very simplistic way of looking at it. Power structures are far more complex than that, more deeply culturally embedded, and thereby harder to identify, challenge, and overcome.
I call BS.
https://www.thoughtco.com/cultural-hegemony-3026121
check the facts. go to 500px, flickr or any other website that offers free space for your pics. you will notice that most photographers are not black. a black female is something you will find difficult to find on any website. they are just not interested. has nothing to do with racism or discrimination. but i guess using Andy's logic. white rappers are discriminated against by the racist power structures etc etc,.. poop just came out of my mouth,.burp.
So what about the Latino woman, or the Chinese woman, or the....... I think you get it.
Give respect to all who work for it regardless of race, creed, culture, or sex.
Screw them. #BlackWomenPhotographerLivesMatter
ken according to Andy Day, it has to do with white power structures focus against black woman. not a word about all those other races because they dont count in this discussion i guess. this whole discussion is just one next step in the way snowflakes and blackliesmatter movement thinks about white people. just scream racism at the top of your lungs, point at white people and do not show any type or solid proof. stick to screaming and making false accusations. this is a blacks against whites fight,.
As my grandmother would say, “Gimminy Cricket”. Worn out on the divisive category's of photography How about a fund for old folks like me, who only got into photography because a crazy psychiatrists talked me into it. Now that's an oxymoron. And she is a woman. I really think she was an arch type of Jezebel from the OT.
oh boy........
Anybody remembers Jesse Owens, who won 4 gold medals at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin when Hitler was in charge there. Or Sachin Tendulkar, from India, one of those shit hole countries. He is a giant in the cricketing world, and no white batsmen are yet to pass his achievements.
Then there is Carl Lewis, Usain Bolt, Muttiah Muralitharan, Lewis Hamilton etc, superstars in their sport which was once dominated by white males.
The future is bright for us. Male and female, grab it with both hands and don't look back in anger.
#BlackWomenPhotographerLivesMatter
#allwomenphotographerlivesmatter
sexist,. #alldutchmalephotographerlivesmatter LOL
How secure, non black women photographers handle articles like this: they shrug and say “good for them. I’m gonna go take some photos.”
How non black women photographers who are insecure children that need a giant glass of shut up juice handle articles like this: “waaaah reverse racism!” “Woe is me and other strong alpha males!” “PC culture is ruining western civilization!” “But what about this! What about that?!” “All lives matter!”
Does FStoppers have a hiring criteria ? Or are they just sexist ?
Seriously people should stop nagging and understand that there is a process to get the job, Do people ever consider that there might be a slight chance that the number of "Qualified" males applying for the job is higher than the number of "Qualified" females ?
As always, Let's not complicate it.
fsstoppers doesnt have a tutorial featuring a black female photographer or german photographer. something is fishy,......just saying. another thing,. i have been doing photograpy for a few years and honestly i dont see many people of color at shows or trainings, was at a nikon show last friday and it was an all white crowd. maybe that says something. i think fstoppers should start promoting dutch photographers, they are very much underrepresented, racism i say,.
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not many black woman won a Nobel prize for science, must be racism too.
snowflakes scream racism every chance they get, in all cases their claims miss a foundation. besides this i can only say that introducing racism and discrimination to fight exactly that is not the answer.
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But why is it low? Are there levels of discimination that make it hard to make progress in your career? Is the work passed over by editors so people don't hear about them? Are they indoctinated at an early age into other paths? Rather than bemoan a platform that promotes work from a particular group of people, who seem to manage to find plenty of examples of this work, we should be questioning WHY the apparent numbers are so low. Because there's no physiological reason for it...
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I don't know, social media is a bit of a game. The way the algorithms work etc. I don't believe that just putting great work on social media will work as a build it and they will come system. There's a whole department in my work dedicated to using social media for marketing clients, there's a whole additional skill set to getting the most out of social media.
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like i said before. in photography school i did not see people with an african background. when i go shooting in nature, meet other photographers, go to social meetings, visit a class, go to a photography show, i do see people from asia western europeans (i live in Amsterdam), east and northern europeans but i do not see black african woman. even when i think really hard i cant see i have ever seen one. i do now 2 black male photographers but they are not from africa, they are from suriname. and i never hear them complaining about representation and their skin color. i say, work hard and be judged on your work, not by the color of your skin.
Just for a minute and stop. Ask WHY you don't see many black photographers or any black female photographers. Perhaps you just live in a predominately white area. Perhaps they tend to be less affluent, this is statistically true in America for example, and they can't afford the starter kit. Perhaps by some fluke they're all rubbish.
But what if, and don't shoot me down because I'm not trying to suggest that lower quality work gets recognition over higher quality work, the reason we don't see an equal proportion of black photographers entering the field is because the experience of being one is worse for them. That they're discouraged from taking it up at an early age. The endemic sexism and racism is having an impact on the pipeline. That people are dropping out of it because their experiences are toxic.
I'm coming at this from my experiences in the technology industry. As a bog-standard white male in the technology world I found it difficult to conceive the amount of crap that goes on for the minorities in the field. From putting my preconceptions aside and listening to said minorities, stopping myself trying to explain it away and believing what I'm hearing, stories of women that have trained their juniors only to have them promoted above them. I've reached them point where when you hear reasons like, I don't see them so they don't exist is all, you stop and think that it just doesn't add up. If I can pay this forward and make others just stop and question their instant conclusions, then at least I've done my bit.
That said, can you truly explain why there's less of them? And why a collection of work by black female photographers is such a problem to people anyway?
i wrote that i lived in Amsterdam. according to the statistics 49.5%(2017) is not dutch where i live. that means non white dutch people. melting pot of everything from everywhere.
point is that somethings are more important to certain groups.
i have never heard any one say, i love your picture but your black so i dont like it. nobody is stopping anyone from being successful in photography. the truth nobody knows, might be culture or something else. a camera is cheap, every phone has one. websites are cheap and nobody is stopping you from selling images on shutterstock showing your work on boredpanda, flickr etc etc,.
but why Matt are black female photographers doing that ?
maybe the simple reason is that there are less black female photographers then other groups. im trying to find a black, i mean dark black female portrait model where i live,.i can find loads of girls but a dark black african model i cant find ? why is that Matt? they just are not interested.
That's the same argument that's used in the STEM fields. And you know what, it's not true.
As for your points, you live in Amsterdam, which I'll admit I have little knowledge of. Statistics say that 49.5% is not dutch but that doesn't tell you how many are white.
You claim some things are more important to certain groups. Why? Are you suggesting that black people just aren't into photography? And that's a realistic answer?
You claim that no one says they don't like someone's picture because the photographer is black. But on another post on here there was an example of someone not hiring a photographer for that reason. That'll certainly make the profession harder to maintain.
You claim that camera's are cheap, depends on what you mean by cheap, it's a relative thing. And yes, there are people out there doing pro work on phones now but even a bottom of the range Apple costs £350, the 8 is £800 and the X is £1000.
I agree that anyone doing photography will have access to all the websites and selling on shutterstock. Maybe black female photographers are, it's pretty anonymous after all.
However, it appears you've made up your mind. You've gone, there's not many black female photographers therefore they're can't be interested. You don't seem willing to challenge your self and your views. So all I'll add is, so many years ago, there weren't many women in work, so they can't have been interested...
define white Matt. define black Matt.
example without proof is difficult to follow. maybe its not true.
you dont need the latest greatest camera,. you can shoot amazing pics on a rebel 350D or even an older camera. its not about the gear. a 50 $ camera of ebay does the trick. remember that old epic pics are shot not on a megapixel super monster. they didnt have those 20 years ago.
i didnt say that. i said they might be less interested into fashion photography then other groups.
maybe there is a different reason then the color of someones skin why there is less representation in a certain profession. following your reasoning maybe there are more black rappers then white ones because white rappers are discriminated against. i dont believe that. maybe there are less black Canadian lumberjacks because,. fill in a snowflake reason Matt. bottomline, racism is wrong so is discrimination. and you dont fight racism with more racism. mlk said that
Gotta love it when an organization or group wants to give notice to anyone other than white dudes, and in turn, white dudes get super butthurt. Hilarious!
not the point david, its discrimination and racist against Asian or eastern European woman. dont make me put you back in your place,. and i will tell your mom your using her ipad again.
I am an Eastern European woman and I wrote about an unseen body of work that has been put together by black women to celebrate their talents. Your point?
With all respect Anete, you might wanne read the other posts.
The other posts? What do they have to do with me reporting that for the first time in decades we have had a substantial body of work coming from black female photographers put together and shown to the public? :)