SF Camerawork Stands in Solidarity with Black Imagemakers
3 June 2020
Dear SF Camerawork Communities,
Over the last several days, many of you have sacrificed your health and safety to grieve for the unjust deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, and Breonna Taylor—and to protest a system that brutalizes Black people. For some of you, the situation is not novel. Many of you risk your health and safety every day just to live, work, and breathe in the United States. This is true for many, but it is especially true for those of us who identify as Black or African American in today’s United States.
Many of you are challenging us—the organizations with which you so generously share your time, talent, and treasure—to do more to recognize Black lives and Black artists and to go further to use our power to bend the arc toward racial and social justice.
In particular, I want to share an Instagram post by artist Chanell Stone—finalist in our Forecast 2019 juried show—that challenges SF Camerawork to do better.
@__califia
As an avid supporter and lover of SF Camerawork, I would appreciate an acknowledgement of the nation's recent current events. It is vastly affecting many Black artists, such as myself, that you have generously extended your platform to. This is a moment for call & response. I would also like to challenge SF Camerawork to facilitate more programing and exhibitions dedicated to Black image makers in particular. Thank you and with love, Chanell.
To our Black artists and community members, I want to say directly: As an African-American woman and your SF Camerawork Board President, I acknowledge and commit to amplifying your voices. I want you all to know that SF Camerawork is dedicated to the Power of the Camera and to the importance of Black artists creating, promoting, and benefitting from those images.
Yes, SF Camerawork hears you and agrees with you. Yes, we are committed to the values of cultural equity and social justice for all. And, yes, we need to do more to recognize the contributions of Black artists and experiences, in particular. Today we are doing this by:
postponing our currently scheduled programming to share the work of Black artists and to share resources for those who wish to promote the change we need. More to follow . . .
scheduling soon-to-be-announced programming featuring the voices of Black thinkers in their responses to our Cell Signals show, a photographic view into the lives of incarcerated people.
encouraging Black artists to submit to our Open Call Forecast 2020 show, curated by Elena Gross, Michael Jang, and Lester Rosso.
We also know we need to do more. If real change is to result, Black people and Black experiences must have a seat at our decision-making tables—as people involved in our governance, curatorial, and programming processes. In the spirit of diversity AND inclusion, I invite you to step forward to nominate more Black people to join us at SF Camerawork. (Already I’m excited to share the recent news that photographer Gene Dominique will join our Board of Directors in July 2020!) With your participation and partnership, we are poised to make important change.
With sincerity and commitment,
Michelle Branch
Board President, SF Camerawork
