Fellowship 23 Conversations: Trent Bozeman and André Ramos-Woodard

While photography can be a powerful medium for affirmation, visual culture can be used as a tool for harm to perpetuate racial injustice. In BLACK SNAFU, Fellowship Award honorable mention André Ramos-Woodard appropriates various depictions of Black people that he finds throughout the racist history of cartooning and juxtaposes them with photographs that reclaim and celebrate Blackness. With a background in journalism, Fellowship Award honorable mention Trent Bozeman is interested in how Black history is reshaped, documented and preserved. His social practice brings attention to the continuing racial divide in the town of Elaine, which in 1919 was the site of the deadliest racial confrontation in Arkansas history.

Hear both artists discuss their approaches to confronting the damage perpetuated by racial injustice in America, followed by an open conversation about how photography can become a tool for empowerment.