LONDON.- As We Rise: Photography from the Black Atlantic, a compelling exhibition of photographs from African Diasporic culture selected from the Wedge Collection, is being presented at Saatchi Gallery this winter. Organised by Aperture and curated by Elliott Ramsey, the exhibition showcases work by Black artists from Canada, United States, Great Britain, The Caribbean, and the African Continent.
The exhibition celebrates works from the Wedge Collection, Canada’s largest privately- owned collection committed to championing Black artists, established by Dr Kenneth Montague in 1997. Explored through the concepts of community, identity, and power, viewers are invited to recognize the complexity – the strength, beauty, vulnerability, and diversity – of Black life. Works by established names such as Horace Ové, James Barnor and Carrie Mae Weems are on display, as well as those of emerging talents such as Texas Isaiah and Arielle Bobb-Willis.
The title As We Rise is borrowed from a phrase that Dr Montague’s father would often invoke: “Lifting as we rise.” The adage suggests the importance of both individual and communal fortification; of empowering your community while striving for personal success. As We Rise: Photography from the Black Atlantic embraces this sensibility and is the reason why the many works featured in the exhibition are gathered into the thematic sections of Community, Identity, and Power. In their depiction of an expansive sense of the familial and the familiar, they share a common thread. Black subjects are depicted by Black photographers; their gaze is mutual and consensual. But the imagery is far from uniform. Instead, it is as varied, surprising, and idiosyncratic as a family album.
Select highlights from the exhibition include:
• Sunday Morning, Detroit, Michigan (1950) by Gordon Parks, an icon of civil rights-era photography
• Nuit de Noël (1963) by Malick Sidibé, one of the most important photographers of post-colonial Africa who was recognized with the Hasselblad Award the Golden Lion Award for Lifetime Achievement
• First Self-Portrait (1975) by Carrie Mae Weems, among the most significant photographers of our time and renowned for her self-portraiture
• After Sir Joshua Reynolds’ “Portrait of Doctor Samuel Johnson" (2009) by Kehinde Wiley, a Nigerian American artist known for Barack Obama’s official portrait in Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery
• My Name Is My Name I (2016) by Texas Isaiah, a rising star in contemporary photography, and the first trans photographer to shoot an edition cover for Vogue Magazine in 2020
As We Rise: Photography from the Black Atlantic is touring internationally. This exhibition at Saatchi Gallery is its UK debut.
Elliott Ramsey, Exhibition Curator: “From the 1S30s’ Harlem Renaissance, through post-colonial Bamako, to contemporary Toronto, As We Rise celebrates the polyphony of Black life — and the nuanced approaches of Black photographers in representing these scenes of love, leisure, and resistance.”
Dr Kenneth Montague, of the Wedge Collection: “I’m honoured to be sharing photographic works from my collection with a UK audience. As We Rise at the Saatchi Gallery will be a celebration of global Black culture through time, with images that reflect legacies of community, identity and power.”
As We Rise: Photography from the Black Atlantic - Selections from the Wedge Collection, is organized by Aperture and curated by Elliott Ramsey.
The accompanying book, As We Rise: Photography from the Black Atlantic (Aperture, 2021), a 184-page catalogue and As We Rise: Sounds from the Black Atlantic (Aperture, 2023), a limited-edition vinyl record, both published by Aperture, are available to purchase in the Gallery Shop and through Saatchi Store Online.
