A Lens on Liberation: Photography as Resistance

In this new collection, Sealy argues that Western photography and its institutions are at a critical juncture, having been forced to reckon with the medium’s colonial history by Black and global majority photographers, artists and cultural theorists who interrogate archives from the perspective of the Other. Sealy engages the work of underrepresented Black photographers and visual artists who, since the period of decolonisation, have challenged the Othering nature of the colonial camera, from Ernest Cole documenting Apartheid and US anti-blackness to Armet Francis capturing the spirit of Caribbean style in postwar Britain. As a curator, Sealy pays special attention to the role of key photography festivals and exhibitions in providing a space for the work of African and diasporic artists and photographers who were and are challenging the colonial nature of photography’s origins to come to the fore. Sealy also explores the radical potential of photography once reclaimed and transformed by Black photographers and artists. From the queer interpretations of Yoruba culture by Rotimi Fani-Kayode to the haunting absence/presence in the self-portraits of Hélène Amouzou, Sealy traces how the camera turned inwards has transformed photography into a medium for exploring Black subjectivity, and in turn a practice of resistance. The book includes a 16-page portfolio of images at its centre, featuring artists Zora J Murff, Sandra Brewster and others.