Item #18037 Photo Archive African American Community and Family Life in Polaroids. African American Black Joy.
Photo Archive African American Community and Family Life in Polaroids
Photo Archive African American Community and Family Life in Polaroids

Photo Archive African American Community and Family Life in Polaroids

Photo Archive

Archive of 33 vernacular Polaroid's of African Americans alone or in small groups mainly doing ordinary activities during their daily lives. C. 1960s-90s. Measure 3.5" x 4.25" in. 16 of the photos have been mounted to cardboard. 17 have standard Polaroid backing. Photos feature recurring characters who become familiar through the archive. The man with broad shoulders and mustache who smiles brightly into the camera in one photo is seen sitting in a recliner in gray trench coat, face turned to read the newspaper on his lap in another. In one image he can be seen kneeling beside an older woman on a sofa, leaning in to pose with her. The toddler who sits on a piano bench, her small fingers across the keys, face turned with curious eyes to the camera sits posed with her brother and sister in another image marked in blue pen, Cushel, Samaria, Mooro 4/19/87." The photos cross generations and decades, building a strong sense of inner generational community life over time. Two older women pose in formal dresses at a banquet table, napkins folded elaborately before them. Some versos are captioned in pen. One image of a young man in sunglasses and deep v-neck sweater, chest exposed, standing in front of an open locker with army jacket beside him reads, "Took this right after I wrote the letter 'Cool huh'!" Subjects' expressions are dynamic and suggestive of rich narratives we can only guess at. A little girl in floral overalls and lime green T-shirt smiles happily where she stands between two swan planters filled with red flowers, her back resting against a tree. Black joy is a phrase used by historians to highlight the positive aspects of Black history separate from its suffering. "Expressions and acts of black joy are often encouraged as a way for Black people to fully be themselves and form a sense of community as a response to systems that devalue them and stifle their self-expression. In this way, engaging in and sharing experiences of Black joy are seen not as ways of ignoring oppression but as acts of resistance against it." (dictionary) Representations of African Americans living lives at once ordinary and inspired, both deeply personal and universal, is an integral part of any American history archive.

Item #18037

Price: $385.00