The New York International Center of Photography’s Infinity Awards honor outstanding achievements in photography and visual arts. Now they have honored Harlem-based photographer Ming Smith for her Lifetime Achievement.
After graduating from Howard University, Smith arrived in New York in the early 1970s and over time developed a singular photography-based practice. A pioneer in her field, her distinctive portraits and figurative street scenes are cast into an otherworldly realm with experimental techniques employed with her camera and hand. Working primarily in black-and-white, Smith produces painterly and artfully blurred images using methods such as slow shutter speeds, double exposure, painting, tinting, and collage.
Early in her career, Smith became the first woman to join Kamoinge, the collective of Black photographers in New York. In recent years, she has received increasing attention with major museum exhibitions (“Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power” and “Working Together: The Photographers of the Kamoinge Workshop”), a comprehensive monograph (“Ming Smith” published by Aperture), and new gallery representation and related solo shows (Pippy Houldsworth Gallery and Nicola Vassell Gallery).
In 1979, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York was the first museum to acquire her work. In February, MoMA will present “Projects: Ming Smith.” Described as a “critical reintroduction” of the artist, the survey delves deep into her archive. MoMA also just launched a new publication focused on a single photograph, Smith’s “Invisible Man, Somewhere, Everywhere” (1991)
A pioneer in her field, Ming Smith’s distinctive portraits and figurative street scenes are cast into an otherworldly realm with experimental techniques employed with her camera and hand.
