For The Armory Show 2021, Bruce Silverstein Gallery will present photographic and painted material focusing on New York from the 1960s to 1980s. The installation will primarily focus on work by The Kamoinge Workshop and Bill Cunningham. Featuring these artists together will provide a comprehensive and inclusive portrait of New York during several dynamic decades.
The Kamoinge Workshop was founded in the early 1960s, and Kamoigne, translates to "group effort" from the language Kikuyu of Kenya. Through the varied practices of Kamoinge members, Black communities are portrayed with dignity and positivity, as well as having agency. The work speaks to the collective and deeply textured experiences of Black people, the reverberations of which continue today.
Working Together: The Photographers of the Kamoinge Workshop, organized by the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, is currently on view at The Whitney Museum of American Art, with plans to travel. Works by Kamoinge members were also included in Soul of a Nation, organized by the Tate Modern in 2017.
Bill Cunningham was a fashion historian and columnist for The New York Times. This presentation will mark the first occasion his work will be shown to the public in this manner.
Cunningham’s photographs captured his love for fashion at parties and events, and most prominently, the street style of New York City. The photographs depict the evolution of trends that spoke to politics and moments of cultural transition. It was Cunningham's instinct and democratic lens that enabled him to capture these moments at their inception.
