In 2017, he took his class to a photography exhibition about families at a major fine art museum in Boston. He began to casually ask curators about their permanent collections and the percentage of Black and Brown artists in their permanent collections. While encouraging his students’ passion for photography, he became increasingly aware of how little representation of Black and Brown artists existed in the many art museums in and around the school and how few exhibitions included artists of color, except during “Black History Month.” The unfairness of this was evident to his students as well. ” His students learned a great deal about the history and craft of photography, but also importantly, how they could use photography as a means to understand their own family history and the stories of their community. There is a large population of students of color, and as the t-shirts that I wore daily to school stated, Black Teachers Matter. I was the first non-white art teacher in the school’s three-hundred-and-forty-five-year history. “After that initial semester, I stayed, because I recognized how powerful it was for my students to see a passionate, committed photographer who happened to be Black. What began as a semester’s job at Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School in Cambridge, MA, turned into a remarkable twenty-seven years of teaching photography. Ultimately, he was led back to teaching art. Still, the reality of earning enough to support his art and make a modest living as a photographer was out of reach. LaSalle’s work, and he did receive some recognition, mostly in the way of artist residencies and grants. I had no idea how difficult it would be to gain entry to the art institutions and receive support for my work.” There were people of influence who recognized the excellence of Mr. “I always thought that if you made good art, your work would be accepted, and the opportunities would be there. LaSalle pursued his career as a fine art photographer and quickly discovered both shocking and hurtful barriers. He learned to “embrace the process of creativity, study the history of the medium, know the work of my contemporaries, understand the materials and techniques of craft, and then use it all to build the integrity of my artistic vision.”Īfter graduating from Mass College of Art with honors, Mr.
Those photographers proved instrumental in shaping his sense of aesthetics, gaining a deep respect for the craft, and appreciating the artistic impulses and creative processes. While there, he was exposed to the history of photography and became particularly enamored with the photography of Eugene Atget, while also absorbing other influential masters such as Roy DeCarava, Helen Leavitt, and Walker Evans. In1978, he entered the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. LaSalle left for Boston, where his efforts to become a photographer and a photo educator, ultimately took shape.
LaSalle’s own journey began in Mobile, Alabama, where he was exposed to numerous cultural art forms, including photography, through the influences of particular teachers and a favorite uncle. While this effort has particular salience at this moment, the impetus for this campaign flows from a lifetime of his experience as an artist and art teacher, along with that of others who are part of the WHERE ARE ALL THE BLACK PEOPLE AT team. LaSalle and his colleagues began a campaign to address this injustice, by focusing not on temporary exhibitions or museum staff per se, but rather on the root of systemic racism as reflected in the permanent collection of these institutions. Posing the question, “Where Are All the Black People At,” and then responding with “In Plain Sight,” Mr. Many are conducting this interrogation following the admonition of the late civil rights giant and Congressman, John Lewis, “If you see something that is not right, not fair, not just, you have a moral obligation to do something about it.”Īcting on those words, Archy LaSalle, a longtime photo educator and fine art photographer in Boston, has put together a grassroots organization to address the lack of representation of Black and Brown artists in the permanent collections of our art museums. No economic sector or individual entity is escaping a period of scrutiny and examination. Right now, the United States is experiencing a moment of reckoning about the impact of systemic racism on individual lives and institutions affecting all areas of our society.
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