Picturing Black Girlhood: Moments of Possibility 

Curated by Zoraida Lopez-Diago and Scheherazade Tillet 

Picturing Black Girlhood: Moments of Possibility celebrates the perspective of young Black girls as subjects, artists, and agents of their own lives, and centers their experimentation in a medium that has historically denied them a place. 

• First touring exhibition and book to consider exclusively the depictions of Black girls in photography • Inspiring multigenerational dialogue between legendary Black artists and young image-makers 

Picturing Black Girlhood: Moments of Possibility, curated by Zoraida Lopez-Diago and Scheherazade Tillet, addresses how photographs produce pleasure, pride, and power for Black girls and the Black women they will eventually become. Telling an essential story about American culture, Picturing Black Girlhood presents images by iconic artists, including LaToya Ruby Frazier, Carrie Mae Weems, and Lorraine O’Grady, alongside works created by Black girls and Black genderqueer youth to stage a dynamic, intergenerational dialogue that centers girls as experts and theorists of their own lives. Picturing Black Girlhood consists of sections that recalibrate and reimagine central concepts of Black girlhood covering themes such as beauty, sexuality, loss, community, and protest in photography. By focusing on their contributions to contemporary art, especially in portraiture, documentary, and digital media, Picturing Black Girlhood shows how Black girls experiment with form and advance photographic technologies. Together, this focus recognizes the discipline’s long shift toward a more equitable representation in photography.

Zoraida Lopez-Diago is an environmentalist, curator, and photographer. She is the coeditor of Black Matrilineage, Photography, and Representation: Another Way of Knowing (2022), a collection of essays and images that reclaim the brilliance of Black women.

Scheherazade Tillet is a photo-based artist, curator, and activist. Her work has been exhibited at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago; Weinberg/Newton Gallery, Chicago; Columbia University; and Rutgers University—Newark; and has been featured in the New York Times, the Cut, and the Guardian.