photo by John Vachon
(NEWARK, NJ) -- On October 12, 2024, HYCIDE will celebrate the launch of the Black & White Book – a 452-page volume that explores race as a social construct and celebrates the power of Black culture and self-definition. The event will be held at the Newark Museum of Art from 6:00pm to 9:00pm. Admission is free.
HYCIDE’s first book, released after a six-year pause in publication, comprises work by more than 60 artists and 40 writers, with a focus on photography and what it can reveal about history, storytelling, oppression, freedom, and joy.
It includes words and images by legendary photographer Jamel Shabazz, who is HYCIDE’s editor-at-large, and was guest-edited by acclaimed scholar and ethnographer Dr. Yaba Blay.
The launch event, part of the Newark Arts Festival’s Reimagining Legacy day, will feature an exhibition curated by HYCIDE Editor-in-Chief Akintola Hanif. It showcases images by five photographers, including Hanif, Erik James Montgomery, Jean Messeroux, Le Pistolera, and Nema Etebar.
The Black & White Book is the most wide-ranging iteration of HYCIDE magazine, which was founded in 2011 and is in special collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the International Center of Photography, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, the Library of Congress, and the Newark Public Library.
“This is the most layered, nuanced and political work that we have produced to date,’’ said Hanif.
Originally planned as an issue of HYCIDE, the Black & White Book began in late 2016 but stalled after Hanif suffered a stroke in January of 2017. As he recovered, he periodically returned to the project until it evolved into a book-length opus that captures the national zeitgeist before and after the 2020 murder of George Floyd. But it also stands as a timeless tribute to creativity and self-expression.
“It was important for me to choose this theme because I have matured and the world has gone through a metamorphosis since COVID-19 and the rise of Donald Trump,’’ said Hanif.
Although his original aim was to explore Black power versus white supremacy, he eventually decided to also highlight work that doesn’t directly reference either theme but illustrates the strength and beauty of Blackness.
“At first, I was dead stuck on measuring whiteness against Blackness, but as time progressed, I loosened up a little and found stories that were just as potent to me but not as easily recognizable as overtly political,’’ he said.
Photo by Jean Messeroux
Much of the content in the Black & White Book positions Black art and storytelling as a means of resistance and liberation. Other images and essays explore memory, community, and Black family life.
The result is a compendium of material by and about academics, activists, artists, archivists, journalists and public intellectuals. Content ranges from historical images of enslaved people and their enslavers to photo essays on neo-Nazis, Black anarchists, the subculture of Bike Life, and the African Diaspora as it plays out from Brooklyn to Berlin.
“I have been exposed to, and made whole by, a lot of different perspectives and experiences and this book represents that,’’ said Hanif. “It contains everything in my orbit.’’
The launch event is free and an afterparty celebrating the collaboration between Newark Arts and HYCIDE will include special guest DJs and performances. The Newark Museum of Art is located at 49 Washington Street in Newark, New Jersey.
