Photo - Christian Capurro.

A New Exhibition Celebrates Visionary Black Photographers From Around The World

Bunjil Place Gallery hosts ‘New Black Vanguard’, an exhibition highlighting the overlap between art and fashion through the eyes of Black creatives.

Writer
Sasha Gattermayr
15th of July 2020

Just last week, Bunjil Place gallery was due to welcome visitors back to their New Black Vanguard: Photography Between Art + Fashion exhibition, whose opening time was delayed during the first set of pandemic restrictions in Victoria. The exhibition was part of the inaugural PHOTO 2020 International Festival of Photography, which has now officially been postponed until next year.

But the good news is that some exhibitions are already available to view, including this one! Curator and critic Antawun Sargent brings together a vibrant collection of art and fashion photographs by Black photographers and featuring Black subjects for this exhibition, which is an extension of his 2019 book by the same name. From New York to Johannesburg, the works celebrate the distinct creative power of Black creatives. Notions of power, beauty, race, and visual identity are played out among the vibrant portraits and conceptual images.

The free exhibition is running until September 27th (hopefully Melburnians will be free to gallery-go by then!) but until that time comes, the high-quality virtual tour the gallery produced in the wake of the state’s first restrictions is still available to view online!

In addition, a series of free, live-streamed conversations with artists involved in PHOTO 2021 launched this week. Titled PHOTO LIVE, the discussions series will host photographers Dana Scruggs, Stephen Tayo and Quil Lemons – whose work appears in the New Black Vanguard exhibition – among the first interviewees. The full program can be viewed here, and conversations can be watched on the festival’s Facebook Live page.

More interviews with some of the NBV artists can be viewed here.

New Black Vanguard: Between Art + Fashion
A photo exhibition highlighting Black artists and creators in the fashion industry
Wednesday, July 1st – Sunday, 27th September 2020
Take a virtual tour of the exhibition here

Bunjil Place
2 Patrick Northeast Drive
Narre Warren, Victoria

Owing to the new restrictions on the metropolitan Melbourne area, Bunjil Place Gallery will be closed until further notice. You can learn more about the ‘New Black Vanguard’ exhibition here.

PHOTO 2021 is a new international photography festival in Australia. You can learn more about it here.

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