ANTWAUN SARGENT ON THE NEED FOR INSTITUTIONS TO LEAD

“When it comes to diversity and inclusion and equity, institutions need to take leading roles in helping to define our futures in ways that are reflective of multiple experiences. One of the things that relates to equity is the need for industry gatekeepers, who have power, to help open the doors for others. Aperture has been around for the last several decades and came to me and asked if I’d like to do a book project, The New Black Vanguard: Photography between Art and Fashion. That act of a storied institution coming to someone young and involved to have the work of a new generation of artists noticed from an institutional level take that lead and approach—I would like for more institutions to lead in this way and not be embarrassed into action. In engaging Aperture, we’ve had tough conversations about their history and how that history has led to this moment. Similarly, it allows for fashion and art stakeholders to think about more honest representations of who we are. The CFDA is made up of industry professionals. They need to think about how they will proactively make sure everyone has an opportunity to have a seat at table or have the opportunity to build their own tables, which means seeking out artists and professions who outside of traditional routes. When you’re embarrassed into action, people think there are other motives. Institutions need to be more self reflective and not pat themselves on the back when they hire the first Black photographer or [designer, editor, stylist], especially when that commissioning happens for the first time decades after the institution was founded. They need to take the initiative to right systems that they’ve put in place that have had the effect of overlooking generations of talent.

When Tyler Mitchell photographed Beyoncé for the cover of Vogue—the magazine’s first-ever Black cover photographer in its 126-year history…in 2018!—it celebrated a young, important voice which is great but it also highlighted the fact that several generations of Black photographers were and continue to be overlooked. It is my hope that historic publications other institutions use their power to more forcefully come out and talk about their history and what they’re going to do differently in the future. I hope we can have more honest conversations about what diversity and inclusion really means, and not tokenize vulnerable communities. We need to change behaviors and create new pathways for artists who visualize our culture and record it for history. Black artists and professionals have done it without the support of institutional bodies. There’s more than a bit of a disappointment when our narratives are controlled by a small group of people.

Historically, we’ve been left out a lot of these spaces for so long that they are on the verge of being rendered irrelevant. We’re going to do it anyway, like we have always done, whether the institutions come along or not. There’s a real opportunity for magazines and museums and other institutional actors to support their paths, making it easier for artists to represent us all.

—Antwaun Sargent, Art Critic and Author