Black Matrilineage, Photography, and Representation : Another Way of Knowing

Black motherhood through Black woman photographic art

Black Matrilineage, Photography, and Representation: Another Way of Knowing questions how the Black female body, specifically the Black maternal body, navigates interlocking structures that place a false narrative on her body and that of her maternal ancestors. This volume, which includes a curated selection of images, addresses the complicated relationship between Blackness and photography and, in particular, its gendered dimension, its relationship to health, sexuality, and digital culture – primarily in the context of racialized heteronormativity.

With over forty contributors, this volume draws on scholarly inquiry ranging from academic essays, interviews, poetry, to documentary practice, and on contemporary art. Black Matrilineage, Photography, and Representation: Another Way of Knowing thus offers a cross-section of analysis on the topic of Black motherhood, mothering, and the participation of photography in the process.

This collection challenges racist images and discourses, both historically and in its persistence in contemporary society, while reclaiming the innate brilliance of Black women through personal narratives, political acts, connections to place, moments of pleasure, and communal celebration. It serves as a reflection of the past, a portal to the future, and contributes to recent scholarship on the complexities of Black life and Black joy.

Foreword by Salamishah Tillet and Scheherazade Tillet.

Afterword by Régine Michelle Jean-Charles (Northeastern University)

Contributing authors: Tomi Akitunde (founder and editor-in-chief of mater mea), Grace Aneiza Ali (Florida State University), Emily Brady (University of Nottingham), Lesly Deschler Canossi (Women Picturing Revolution), Nicole J. Caruth (independent curator), Haile Eshe Cole (University of Connecticut), Atalie Gerhard (Saarland University), Kellie Carter Jackson (Wellesley College), Régine Michelle Jean-Charles (Northeastern University), Rachel Lobo (York University), Zoraida Lopez-Diago (Women Picturing Revolution), Salamishah Tillet (Rutgers University), Scheherazade Tillet (A Long Walk Home), Brie McLemore (University of California, Berkeley), Renée Mussai (Autograph London), Marly Pierre-Louis (independent curator), Jonathan Michael Square (Parsons School of Design), Susan Thompson (independent curator), Jennifer Turner (Hollins University), Sasha Turner (Johns Hopkins University), Rhaisa Kameela Williams (Princeton University)

Contributing artists: Nydia Blas, Samantha Box, Sheila Pree Bright, Renee Cox, Andrea Chung, Nona Faustine, Adama Delphine Fawundu, vanessa german , Ayana V. Jackson, Lebohang Kganye, Deana Lawson, Qiana Mestrich, Marcia Michael, Zanele Muholi, Wangechi Mutu, Keisha Scarville, Mickalene Thomas, Mary Sibande, Carrie Mae Weems, Deborah Willis

This book emerges from the project Women Picturing Revolution.
For more information, visit www.womenpicturingrevolution.com

This publication is GPRC-labeled (Guaranteed Peer Review Content).

Listen to an interview with Lesly Deschler Canossi and Zoraida Lopez-Diago at New Books Network: https://newbooksnetwork.com/black-matrilineage-photography-and-representation