Reflections in Black: A Reframing.

The Center for Black Visual Culture and Tisch School of the Arts, Department of Photography & Imaging are pleased to announce Reflections in Black: A Reframing. Curated by Dr. Deborah Willis, this exhibition accompanies the release of the 25th anniversary edition of Willis’ internationally acclaimed publication Reflections in Black: A History of Black Photographers 1840 to the Present; the first comprehensive history of black photographers. Reflections in Black: A Reframing showcases the profound visual archive Black image makers have established since the late nineteenth century, and expands upon the publication’s first iteration originally published in 2000. Reflections in Black: A Reframing includes modern and original prints and extends Willis’s pioneering effort to reshape the narrative of American history, by centering the indisputable aesthetic, political, and cultural contributions of Black photographers from the 19th century to the present.

Featured in the exhibition is The Missing Chapter: Black Chronicles, Autograph’s pop-up photography display featuring 30 remarkable image panels, reproduced from rare 19th-century photographs portraying people of African, Caribbean and South Asian descent during the Victorian era in Britain. Focused on unearthing nineteenth-century photographs of black presences in Britain’s archives, the portraits offer a unique snapshot of black lives and experiences during the decades following the birth of photography in 1839. Many of these images lay buried deep within the archives for decades, unseen for more than 125 years.

Through both historical and contemporary lenses, Reflections in Black: A Reframing foregrounds a sweeping visual archive that affirms Black self-authorship in imagemaking, spotlighting the evolution and enduring vitality of Black photographic practices. Join us for the exhibition opening receptions September 4, 2025 in two New York locations; Cooper Square Gallery 5:30-7:00 pm, Photo & Imaging Galleries 6:00 – 8:00 pm.

RSVP

Exhibition Locations
Cooper Square Gallery
20 Cooper Square, New York, NY, 10003
On View: September 4 – October 15, 2025

Ackeem Salmon, Albert Chong, Bayeté Ross-Smith, Bob Crawford, Bob Gore, Brian Palmer, Coreen Simpson, Collette V. Fournier, Chester Higgins, Cheryl Miller, Carl E. Lewis, Daesha Devón Harris, Dani Tyas, Eric Hart Jr., Fern Logan, Gordon Parks, Hank Willis Thomas, Herb Robinson, Jamaica Gilmer, John W. Mosley, Joshua Rashaad McFadden, Justin Johnson, Laila AnnMarie Stevens, LeRoy Henderson, Lola Flash, Lonnie Graham, Lyle Ashton Harris, Mel Wright, Ming Smith, Myra Greene, Nashormeh Lindo, Nicole Harrison, Renee Cox, Roy Wallace, Russell Frederick, Salimah Ali, Susan Ross, Terry Boddie, Yelaine Rodriguez, Zoraida Lopez-Diago.

Tisch School of the Arts, Department of Photography & Imaging, Gulf & Western Galleries
721 Broadway, New York, NY 10003
On View: September 4 – December 21, 2025

A.P. Bedou, Adam Davis, Adama Delphine Fawundu, Alanna Airitam, Allison Janae Hamilton, Andre D. Wagner, Arturo Holmes, Ayana V. Jackson, Bill Gaskins, Brandy Dyess, C.M. Battey, Carla Williams, Carrie Mae Weems, Cecil Williams, Charles “Teenie” Harris, C. Daniel Dawson, Colette Veasey-Cullors, Cornelius Tulloch, D’Angelo Lovell Williams, Darryl Sivad, Denise Stephanie Hewitt, Dominic Pearson, Doug Harris, Dwight Carter, Eddie Elcha, Elliott Jerome Brown Jr., Ernest Russell, Faith Davis, Gerald Cyrus, Gerard H. Gaskin, Golden, Ivan Forde, Jack T. Franklin, Jamel Shabazz, James L. Allen, James Presley Ball, Janna Ireland, Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe, Jeffrey Henson Scales, John Pinderhughes, Kambui Olujimi, Kennedi Carter, Laylah Amatullah Barrayn, Lynn Marshall-Linnemeier, Maaza Mengiste, Moneta J. Sleet Jr., Munachi Osegbu, Nadia Huggins, Qiana Mestrich, Rafia Santana, Richard Samuel Roberts, Ron Tarver, Satchel Lee, Scheherazade Tillet, Séan Alonzo Harris, Sheila Pree Bright, Steven M. Cummings, Terrence C. Jennings, Tyler Mitchell, Wendel A. White, William Earle Williams, Zalika Azim.

Exhibition Organizations and Support

Tisch School of the Arts, Department of Photography & Imaging
The Center for Black Visual Culture at the Institute of African American Affairs
Autograph

Exhibition Curator

This exhibition is curated by Deborah Willis, ​​University Professor and Chair of the Department of Photography and Imaging at the Tisch School of the Arts and Founding Director of the Center for Black Visual Culture at New York University.

About the Publication

Originally published in 2000, Reflections in Black, published by Liveright, was the first single-volume work to collect the images of leading African American photographers—from the daguerreotype to the digital age. Through its sheer power and inherent beauty, Deborah Willis’s groundbreaking assemblage of photographs of African American life from 1840 to the present triumphantly celebrated family, endurance, and spirituality over the last two centuries as it upended stereotypes and rewrote American history. Aware that so much has changed since 2000, Willis—a world-renowned photographer, curator, and author—has now created a breathtaking twenty-fifth anniversary edition, juxtaposing hundreds of images that appeared in the original edition with 130 new ones. 

This enhanced volume, with a new foreword from Robin D. G. Kelley and a coda from Kalia Brooks, once again affirms the power of photography to reconfigure our conception of Black life in the African diaspora and American history. Featuring the works of photographers such as Albert Chong, LaToya Ruby Frazier, Allison Janae Hamilton, Renee Cox, Carrie Mae Weems, Andre D. Wagner, and Hank Willis Thomas, this new edition is dedicated to the artists who stretch the definition of photography, creating pieces more akin to multimedia and conceptual art. 

Date:  September 4, 2025

Time:  6:00pm to 7:30pm

Location: Cooper Square Gallery
20 Cooper Square, New York, NY 10003