About
For over half a century, the Kamoinge Workshop has worked diligently to document the charismatic, ever-changing and rich culture of the African American community. The varied backgrounds and photographic interests between the members of Kamoinge enabled the group to paint a more substantial portrait of Black life during the late 20th century than its mainstream counterpart. However, Kamoinge’s artistic influence; still coming into mainstream recognition today, serves only a portion of the total widespread impact on the Black community. Kamoinge was far more than a collective of Black photographers working together, as implied by its name. They were a cultural hub based in the Harlem community and in essence a moderator. Their love for being readers, makers and sustainers of Black culture of the time aided in their intent to support the community in all ways imaginable. Thus, their love for constructing new and more genuine representations of their surrounding community, and community building would become even more apparent over the next few decades.
As a collective, Kamoinge would become the facilitators of many conversations that were being held not only in the arena of 20th century Black photography, but also 20th century Black life in New York. It was through these avenues of holding and creating space for community to gather, reflect and imagine, that discussions of what is currently and what can be for the future, were generated. Students and faculty from a number of academic institutions such as Harvard University, Syracuse University, and Oberlin College looked to Kamoinge for inspiration and knowledge dissemination. In fact, one of their first workshops entitled “The Kamoinge Workshop for Black Photographers” was held in 1973 at The Graduate School of Arts and Design at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts; only 10 years after its founding in Harlem. While it might have been easy for Kamoinge to get wrapped up in the multiple opportunities that would be presented to them outside of the Harlem community, they made sure to stay committed to their original goals and intention. During the early 80s, Kamoinge would host three of their own major events: their First Annual Bus Excursion, third Annual Awards Dinner Dance, and publish a newsletter for their affiliate International Black Photographers organization. While this information is not widely acknowledged today, community organizing was an essential component to the members of Kamoinge. In their organizing and production of events, they made sure to create an atmosphere of learning beyond photography as well. There was an exchange of information from all different disciplines within the group. They created for themselves a network of relations and system of learning that would sustain the foundation for the forthcoming years.