For the photographers of the Kamoinge Workshop, the moment was always now.
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Much of it is not familiar even to students of photography; all of it should be.
There was enough of the white gaze around taking photos of Black bodies (however sometimes well intentioned).
In some ways, it was like a school: They saw films, had assignments.
DeCarava was the glue that kept the family together.
None of us got anywhere without help, says cofounding member Jimmie Mannas.
It started with our own families growing up.
It was the same in Kamoinge.
Roy DeCarava was our teacher.
His wife fed us …
Sometimes she was a harsher critic than Roy was!
In Shawn WalkersFamily on Easter, Harlem, NY,everyone is wearing all white.
Kamoinge is a family, but its members are not the same and shouldnt be confused as such.
Group members sought self-actualization in the world as well as within the context of the group.
He introduced other members to the wide-angle lens.
Kamoinge provided these photographers with a rigorous education, and praise was hard earned.
They spent a lot of time ripping one another apart before having wine and paella or chili.
The value of the Kamoinge collectives work exists in its painstaking composition, heart, and razor-sharp technique.
It would be unjust, and frankly a shame, to pigeonhole and tokenize these artists.
As Dawson tells me, We were never starving to be white; we were valid as ourselves.
Working Together: The Photographers of the Kamoinge Workshopopens at the Whitney Museum on November 21.
