Painting with Light: The Photography of Ming Smith

Smith’s use of the blur is a characteristic technique, often evoking a transcendent quality through soft hazy strokes of light and dark. Signifying an intentional rejection of her medium as a form of documentation, the blur highlights a dynamic and reciprocal relationship with her subjects. 

Building on her painterly photographic language of black and white, at times Smith applies literal strokes of paint - abstract marks made with vibrant colour heighten or transform the emotional resonance of an image.

 'I wanted to capture the spirituality, the humanity of black people, my love for the culture'

Ming Smith, The Observer, 2020

The works presented affirm the tenderness, respect and wonder with which Smith approaches each of her subjects. Community and family, with a particular focus on black family life, is at the heart of Smith's practice that celebrates its beauty and complexity.

‘Smith’s evocative pictures summon up dreamlike states to tease out complex emotions and ideas deeply embedded in the places and consciousness of her subjects.’

Maurice Berger, The New York Times, 2017

'Oh no, it’s all discovery, it’s all improvisation. It’s like when jazz musicians solo. They improvise, and photography is definitely that, for me.'

Ming Smith, Document Journal, 2019

The artist’s work has been presented in exhibitions including Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power, Tate Modern, London (2017), touring to Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, (2018); Brooklyn Museum, New York (2018); The Broad, Los Angeles (2019); De Young Museum, San Francisco (2020); We Wanted a Revolution: Black Radical Women 1965-85, Brooklyn Museum, New York (2017); Arthur Jafa: A Series of Utterly Improbably, Yet Extraordinary Renditions, Serpentine Galleries, London (2017), touring to Moderna Museet, Stockholm (2019); Pictures by Women: A History of Modern Photography, The Museum of Modern Art, New York (2010). A comprehensive monograph will be published by Aperture towards the end of the 2020. Smith will be included in Just Above Midtown, Museum of Modern Art New York (2022).

Smith’s work is held in the collections of Brooklyn Museum, New York; Detroit Institute of Arts; Philadelphia Museum of Art; National Gallery of Art, Washington; Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York; Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum, Washington; Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture, Washington; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; Virginia Museum of Fine Arts; and Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.