ART
Ming Smith
words by Faith Cummings
photos by Ackime Snow
While she's gone on to influence photography and the art world at large with her indelible vision that continues to shape how we all see the world around us, Ming Smith's first and still enduring love will always be dance. But from the beginning, that romance was riddled with complexity— making Smith aware of what her Blackness meant to others as a young girl. Her innocent watching of the "tippy-toe girls" and asking to join them in class was quickly confronted with her unvirtuous exclusion by one of the studio's teachers and Smith's subsequent sadness. But she would run up against dance again decades later, tare da gamuwa mai ban sha'awa da tallafi wanda ba da daɗewa ba za ta koya mata hanyoyin Katherine Dunham da sauran ƙwararrun mawaƙa na Baƙar fata waɗanda suka kasance faɗaɗa ayyukan raya ƙasashen waje da take yi da kanta..
Tun kafin ta zama Bakar fata ta farko mai daukar hoto a cikin tarin MoMA, Smith yaro ne wanda ya ari Kodak Brownie na mahaifiyarta, daukar hotunan abokin karatunta na kindergarten - kusan nan take ta sha'awar ƙirƙirar hotuna. Wannan sha'awar ta ci gaba a lokacinta a Jami'ar Howard, inda ta dauki kwas din daukar hoto mai zabe, da kuma a lokacin da ta yi modeling, lokacin da ta fara tunanin ra'ayin daukar hoto a matsayin fasahar fasaha yayin da masana'antar fasaha ta duniya ke tattaunawa iri daya.
Inda ta sami gidanta a matsayin mai zane yana tare da Kamoinge Workshop: gungun masu daukar hoto na Bakaken fata a birnin New York wadanda suka yi tasiri a ciki 1963, Smith ta shiga ƙungiyar a cikin 70s bayan ta sha'awar sararin samaniya a cikin fasahar baƙar fata da ƙungiyoyin 'yancin ɗan adam da ke faruwa a lokacin.. "Ƙungiyoyin sun himmatu wajen ƙoƙarin ciyar da mutanenmu gaba a wannan lokaci na musamman," Ta ce. "Roy DeCarava ya fara taron bitar don samun 'yancin kai kuma ya faɗi haka game da hotunan Baƙar fata da ke cikin al'ada.. Sau da yawa, akwai ra'ayoyi mara kyau a cikin kafofin watsa labarai, don haka muna son samar da hotuna da suka fito daga al'ummarmu da kuma namu ra'ayi."
Kuma ta yi shekara da shekaru kafin MoMA ta shigo kira 1979. "Kasancewa bakar fata ta farko mai daukar hoto a gidan kayan gargajiya ya ba ni tabbaci, amma a koyaushe ina kwatanta shi da jin kamar na sami lambar yabo ta Academy, amma babu wanda ya sani game da shi," Ta ce. Mutane kalilan ne suka san abin da ta cim ma a lokacin, kuma ya tabbata cewa zayyana sararin samaniyar da ta ƙirƙira ga mutane da yawa bayan ta yana da ƙalubale da kaɗaici a lokacin.. "Babu wata hanya ta shiga harkar daukar hoto domin ba kasuwanci ba ne a lokacin," ta bayyana. "Masu daukar hoto daya tilo a lokacin sun kasance masu salo da talla, kuma babu wani daga cikinsu da ya kasance Baƙar fata da ya iya ajiye ɗakunan su." So Smith likens her career to that of a mixed media artist or painter—Faith Ringgold is one of the names that easily come to her mind because of her protests against art institutions to have Black artists showcased in their collections.
But as much as breaking ground and defying the odds are integral to Smith's journey, so are genuine moments of joy in capturing tender moments with some of the world's most iconic artists. When ruminating on her favorite photos, she instantly brings to mind shooting the great American sculptor and graphic artist Elizabeth Catlett and the "Godmother of African American Art" Dr. Samella S. Lewis. The two visionaries were also close friends, and Lewis wrote a book on Catlett's work in 1984—about twenty years into Catlett's exile from the U.S. in Mexico. "I was really new when we first met, but when I was in Los Angeles, and they were in their later years, I took photos of them together and it was a beautiful moment," she recalls. The inimitable Gordon Parks was also a dear friend of Smith's, and she spoke fondly of the photo hanging on her wall now that she had taken of his last Christmas. "Every New Year's Day, one of my best friends and I would go to my lawyer's house and Gordon Parks's home was right around the corner, so we'd walk over," she reminisces. "I remember Gordon would still have his Christmas tree up on New Year's Day."
Smith ultimately wants to leave a legacy of hope to young Black photographers and a pathway of sorts for what's possible in their careers. Ta sami kwarin gwiwa daga duk basirar masu neman aiki da masu fasaha za su iya samu daga tattaunawa da tattaunawa, kuma tana jin daɗin yadda matasa da yawa ke sha'awar daukar hoto - isa su je makarantar daukar hoto da ba ta kasance ba lokacin da ta zo..
A halin yanzu, Smith har yanzu yana ɗaukar duniyar da ke kewaye da ita, da dukkan kyawunsa da sarkakkunsa. Nunin solo dinta na farko, Ayyuka: Ming Smith, yana nunawa a MoMA har zuwa ƙarshen Mayu, kuma har yanzu tana cikin dangantaka mai gamsarwa da soyayya da rawa, motsi a cikin Sabar da Afro-Cuba azuzuwan raye-raye kamar yadda ta iya. Abinda makomarta zata kasance gaba daya ya rage mata; kawai muna farin cikin kasancewa tare don tafiya.