Consuelo Kanaga, She Is a Tree of Life to Them, 1950 (21.1982)

During my MFA experience I had the opportunity to work as a digital archivist in The Photography Collection at the International Center for Photography. The collection itself contains over 100,000 items including prints, negatives and rare journals and magazines. They even have copies of Alfred Steiglitz’s Camera Work magazine! If you’re in NYC, the ICP collection and the ICP library (at the school) are definitely worth spending a few hours in.

One day I stumbled upon a box of photographs by Consuelo Kanaga and was amazed! I’d long admired Kanaga’s black and white work, specifically her portraits of African-Americans. Read more about this photojournalist who developed a close connection with the Black American community before and during the civil rights struggle.

_________________________________________________________________________________

Dodge & Burn is a blog dedicated to documenting a more inclusive history of photography and supporting the work of photographers of color with photographer interviews.

This blog is published by visual artist and writer, Qiana Mestrich. For regular updates on diversity in photography history, follow Qiana on Twitter @mestrich, Like the Dodge & Burn Blog page on Facebook or subscribe to Dodge & Burn by email.