About four years ago I was on a photo walk in downtown Atlanta. I came to an intersection and across the street I see this brother walking with the unmistakable bop of a free man carrying a little girl.

The Black gaze to me, means Black visual artists having the ability and ample opportunities to tell our own stories without the fear of not meeting the expectations of non-Black people.

The Black gaze is about the experiences that exist within each and every single one us. There are stories at every single corner. And it’s those stories that allows us to have a voice; especially when so many people are voiceless, and don’t get to share those experiences.

The Black gaze shows the importance and perspective of art and influence through Black individuals. It’s unapologetic in staying true to how our culture views and interprets ourselves.

The Black gaze means an admiration of everything Black. Admiration that is not only external but also internal. Internally in regards to politics, culture, emotions, and mental illness. Overall, the Black Experience.

To me, the ‘Black gaze’ is about shifting the visual power and narrative to, and through, the lens of Blackness.

It’s amazing how Black creatives can be interviewed and their process documented, it inspires.

It’s amazing how Black creatives can be interviewed and their process documented, it inspires.

The Black Gaze means seeing and feeling the very experience through the lens/eyes of the Black diaspora.

The Black gaze means to me being able to see myself and others who look like me fully. Unfiltered. Raw. Real. Beautiful. It matters because it helps me show up in the world fully and unapologetically as my Black self.

The Black gaze is something that comes attached to a Black person when their experience has been exploited for the benefit other than Black people.

To me it means seeing the world through the eyes and experience of Black men and women. It matters because Black men and women experiences have always been dismissed and disrespected in society and it needs to change.

As a Black woman, everything I shoot is from the Black gaze but not exclusively FOR the Black gaze. When my work is viewed and provokes, it’s proof that the Black gaze doesn’t have to be ‘othered’. There’s art, there’s substance, there’s empathy, there’s skill, there’s passion, there’s the avant-garde in the Black gaze.

For me, this involves taking ownership of how we see ourselves, especially through works of art (photography, writing, painting, music, etc). It’s about reclaiming how we choose to be identified, seen and related to.

The Black gaze means taking ownership of the narrative and establishing a space for Black creatives to create and disseminate their own stories in anyway they so choose.