Rooted in colonial notions of Blackness as otherness, photography – as a tool of surveillance and documentation – has influenced cultural meanings of Blackness, historically to the present day. In response, Black artists have used the camera to unsettle photography’s colonial legacies and to create their conceptions of Blackness, diasporic identity and culture.  

This four-week course examines the relationship between photography, Blackness, and diaspora, from the invention of photography in the 19th century to contemporary Black photography and image-making. We will examine photographic practices, including portraiture, fine art, and the avant-garde, as well as archives containing social, cultural, and political documentation. 

Nydia A. Swaby teaches the course in response to Rhea Storr’s Art on the Underground commission, Uncommon Observations: The Ground that Moves Us (2022), a series of photographs presented as captioned film strips exhibited in four London Underground stations. The first three weeks will examine Storr's different modes of image-making used in the commission in preparation for a conversation with the artist in week four.