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, nekusangana kwakawanda kunokoka uye kunotsigira kwaizokurumidza kumudzidzisa nzira dzaKatherine Dunham nevamwe vazhinji vevatema choreographs vaive wedzero yebasa rekurima vari kudiaspora raaizviita iye..
Kare asati ave mukadzi wekutanga mutema mutori wemifananidzo muunganidzwa weMoMA, Smith aive mwana aive akwereta amai vake Kodak Brownie, kutora mapikicha ewaaidzidza naye kukireshi—akapotsa atorwa moyo nekugadzira mifananidzo. Kuyemura ikoko kwakapfuurira kuburikidza nenguva yake paHoward University, kwaakatora kosi yekusarudza mifananidzo, uye mumazuva ake emuenzaniso, paakatanga kufungisisa nezvepfungwa yekutora mifananidzo sechimiro cheunyanzvi apo indasitiri yepasirese yehunyanzvi yaive nehurukuro imwe cheteyo.
Kwaakawana musha wake senyanzvi ndiko kwaive neKamoinge Workshop: boka rine simba revatori vemifananidzo vatema muNew York City vakaumba mukati 1963, Smith akabatana neboka mu70s mushure mekushuva nzvimbo yake mune imwe nguva yeBlack arts uye Civil Rights kufamba kwaiitika panguva iyoyo.. "Boka racho rakanga richishingaira mukuedza kufambisa vanhu vedu mberi munguva iyoyo inokosha zvikuru," anoti. "Roy DeCarava akatanga musangano kuti ave nekuzvimiririra uye kutaura-saizvozvo nezvemifananidzo yevatema yaive kunze munharaunda.. Nguva zhinji, maive nemafungiro asina kunaka munhau, saka taida kuburitsa mifananidzo yakabva munharaunda yedu uye nemaonero edu pachedu."
Uye kugadzira kwaakaita kwemakore MoMA isati yauya kufona 1979. "Kuve mukadzi wechitema wekutanga kutora mifananidzo mumuseum kwakandipa tsindiro, asi ndaigara ndichitsanangura sekunge ndawana Academy Award, asi hapana aiziva nezvazvo," anoti. Vanhu vashoma chete ndivo vaiziva nezvekuita kwake panguva iyoyo, uye zvaive pachena kuti kuveza nzvimbo yaakasikira vazhinji mushure make kwaive kwakaoma uye kusurukirwa panguva iyoyo.. "Pakanga pasina nzira yekupinda nayo mubhizinesi rekutora mifananidzo nekuti rakanga risiri bhizinesi ipapo," anoratidza. "Vatori vemifananidzo chete panguva iyoyo vaive mufashoni uye kushambadza, uye hapana mumwe wavo aive Mutema akakwanisa kuchengeta mastudio avo." 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. Anokurudzirwa nevese vanoshuvira uye vanoshanda maartist vanogona kuwana kubva muhurukuro uye kubvunzurudza, uye anofara kuti vechiduku vakawanda vanofarira kutora mifananidzo—zvakakwana kuti vaende kuchikoro chekutora mifananidzo chakanga chisipo paakanga achiuya..
Mumazuva ano, Smith achiri kutapa nyika yakamutenderedza, nekunaka kwayo kose nekuoma kunzwisisa. Yake yekutanga solo kuratidzwa, Projects: Ming Smith, iri kuratidza kuMoMA kusvika kupera kwaMay, uye achiri muukama hunogutsa uye hwerudo nekutamba, kufamba mumakirasi ekutamba eSabar neAfro-Cuban kakawanda sezvaanogona. Kuti ramangwana rake rinei zviri kwaari; isu tinongofara nekuve pamwe pakukwira.