American photographer and filmmaker Tyler Mitchell is known for his vibrant compositions that foreground Black beauty and utopias.
Read MoreTyler Mitchell was born in Albany, Georgia, U.S. in 1995. He received his BFA in Film and Television from the NYU Tisch School of the Arts in 2017. During his studies, he photographed rising musicians for independent magazines and worked on video campaigns with major fashion labels Givenchy, American Eagle, and Marc Jacobs. In 2018, Mitchell photographed Beyoncé for American Vogue, receiving global acclaim as the first Black photographer to shoot a cover for the magazine in its over century-long history.
Mitchell is known for his playful and nuanced compositions that foreground the beauty of his Black subjects. Often inspired by his suburban upbringing in Georgia, his images and videos address ideas of self-determination, empowerment, and tenderness. When talking about his practice, the artist once said that 'Black beauty is an act of justice.' In his work, Mitchell seeks to shed light on different ways to approach and interpret Black futures and utopias.
Much of Mitchell's work depicts subjects spending time outdoors as a means to reflect on the Black experience and relationship with public space. His first solo exhibition I Can Make You Feel Good (2019) revolved around depictions of desire and joy, while contemplating his adolescence growing up alongside the Internet and sprouting social media platforms. In this exhibition, Mitchell presented photographs of young Black people in gardens, parks, and studios, dignified and proud. He further complicates these portraits and moments of joy in his video Chasing Pink, Found Red (2019), which depicts Black youths peacefully resting on a picnic blanket while crowdsourced commentary on racism and prejudice punctuates the piece.
Mitchell's exploration of the contradictions Black bodies encounter in public space continue in photographs such as Georgia Hillside (Red Lining) (2021), in which figures on a hill laze, fly kites, or photograph one another while red lines on the grass separate and delineate different groups. In Gingham Boys (2021), the viewer peeks through a frame made up of picnic blankets to see Black youths sitting on grass.
Mitchell has also experimented with photographic installations and sculpture in what he calls his 'altar sculptures', which integrates furniture with photography. In The Grand Sofa (2021), photographs of his family members are printed on the couch's upholstery. Altar VII (Repose) (2024), by contrast, shows family portraits arranged and stacked as a small pavilion that the viewer can walk into. The images focus on families involved in cotillion, a communal tradition still practiced in the Southern U.S.. Through these pieces, Mitchell explores the construction and preservation of memory coupled with an interrogation of the family and domestic space.
Tyler Mitchell has held solo exhibitions at C/O Museum, Berlin; Foam Fotografiemuseum, Amsterdam; The Gordon Parks Foundation, New York; High Museum of Art, Atlanta; the International Center of Photography, New York; and SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah, Georgia. His works have been included in group exhibitions at the Hessel Museum of Art at Bard College, New York, and CONTACT Photography Festival, Toronto.
Mitchell's work can be found in the public collections of institutions such as the Brooklyn Museum, New York; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C.; and the Museum of Modern Art, New York.
Tyler Mitchell's website can be found here while his Instagram can be found here.
Arianna Mercado | Ocula | 2024
