Aperture to honor Kwame Brathwaite, Zackary Drucker, Inez & Vinoodh
Cohosted by Edward Enninful, Susan Gutfreund, Elizabeth Ann Kahane, Cathy M. Kaplan, Hari Nef, and Anja Rubik.
October 30, 2017
IAC Building, 555 West 18th Street, New York, N.Y.
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Aperture’s 65th Anniversary Gala celebrates the contributions of four visionary artists working at the intersection of photography, style, and human potential.
Courtesy of Kwame Brathwaite
Kwame Brathwaite popularized the phrase “Black Is Beautiful” in the late 1950s and early ’60s through his photographs, his writing, and the activities of the two organizations he helped cofound: African Jazz Arts Society and Studios (AJASS, 1956) and Grandassa Models (1962). He also photographed numerous landmark events, such as the Rumble in the Jungle, Human Kindness Day, and Nelson Mandela’s inauguration. Brathwaite’s photographs were specifically intended to shape the course of American visual discourse and to foreground the idea that artistic and political vision can effect change in popular culture—and that popular culture can effect change on culture at large. He will be profiled by Tanisha C. Ford in the “Elements of Style” issue of Aperture magazine, to be released in September.
Photo by Jaesung Lee
Courtesy of Zackary Drucker
Zackary Drucker is an independent artist, cultural producer, and trans woman who breaks down the way we think about gender, sexuality, and seeing. She has performed and exhibited her work internationally in museums, galleries, and film festivals including the Whitney Biennial 2014, MoMA PS1, Hammer Museum, Art Gallery of Ontario, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, among others. Drucker is an Emmy-nominated producer for the docu-series This Is Me, as well as a producer on the Golden Globe and Emmy-winning Transparent. She will be the guest editor of “Future Gender,” an issue of Aperture magazine to be released in December.
Polaroid by Eva Doll
Courtesy of Inez & Vinoodh
Inez & Vinoodh are among the most celebrated and influential photographers working within the fashion and art worlds today. In the early 1990s, they developed a signature style of visual seduction paired with provocative narratives, which infused new ideas into photography, and often upended gender conventions. They have created groundbreaking editorials for such publications as American, French, Japanese, and Italian Vogue; V Magazine; Visionaire; The Gentlewoman; W Magazine; and the New York Times Magazine, for which they recently photographed Chelsea Manning. Their innovative approach is also seen in campaigns and films for major fashion houses and their work has been exhibited in galleries and museums internationally including the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam; Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam; the Hayward Gallery, London; and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. Inez & Vinoodh are featured on the cover of Aperture’s forthcoming publication Fashion Photography: The Story in 180 Pictures.
About Aperture
Aperture, a not-for-profit foundation, connects the photo community and its audiences with the most inspiring work, the sharpest ideas, and with each other—in print, in person, and online.
