D'Angelo Lovell Williams explained

D'Angelo Lovell Williams (born 1992) is an American photographer, living in Brooklyn, New York[1] who has made work about queer Black life.[2] In 2022 their book Contact High was published.

Early life and education

Williams was born in Jackson, Mississippi.[1] In 2015 they earned a BFA in photography from Memphis College of Art in Memphis, Tennessee and in 2018 a MFA in art photography from Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York.[3] They also attended Skowhegan School of Art in 2018.

Life and work

Williams is a Black, queer artist whose artwork uses photography to explore queer intimacy.[4]

Their work was included in the 2020 exhibition and related publication, Young Gifted and Black: A New Generation of Artists, curated by Antwaun Sargent and Matt Wycoff from the Lumpkin-Boccuzzi Family Collection of Contemporary Art at Lehman College from February to May 2020.[5]

The series Papa Don't Preach, according to Maia Rae Bachman writing for Musée Magazine, uses portraits of Black queer intimacy to explore "feelings of closeness through kinship."

The book Contact High (2022) explores queer Black communities that Williams feels a part of. Williams appears in the majority of the photographs with a cast of supporting characters. According to Ravi Ghosh writing for i-D, "a few distinct features stand out: the variety of full-body poses, the connection to the land and vegetation, the air of self-destruction. D'Angelo's unbroken stare into the camera becomes this set's defining quality."[3] Marigold Warner writes in the British Journal of Photography that

Personal life

Williams lives in Brooklyn, New York. They were diagnosed with HIV in January 2020.[6]

Publications

Books by Williams

Zines by Williams

Solo exhibitions

Notes and References

  1. Web site: D'Angelo Lovell Williams. 2023-02-08.
  2. Web site: 2022-09-16. D'Angelo Lovell Williams "Contact High". CNN. 5 July 2022 .
  3. Web site: Ravi. Ghosh. 2022-09-16. D'Angelo Lovell Williams photographs Black mundane surrealism. i-D.
  4. Web site: Gallery 400 . 2021-10-07 . Exercising Fellowship: D’Angelo Lovell Williams and Derrick Woods-Morrow - Gallery 400 . 2024-04-11 . en-US.
  5. Book: Young Gifted and Black . 2020 . Lehman College Art Gallery . 2020.
  6. Web site: 2022-09-17. Papa Don't Preach by D'Angelo Lovell Williams. Musée Magazine. 11 June 2020 .
  7. News: Roberta. Smith. Martha. Schwendener. 2022-09-16. What to See in New York Art Galleries This Week. The New York Times. 17 August 2017. 0362-4331.
  8. 2022-09-16. Bernd And Hilla Becher. The New Yorker.