Lamont Hamilton is one of the selected artists in ‘Midwestern Voices and Visions’ , an exhibition in the Museum of Modern Art Detroit.
Picture: Sonia Sanchez, 2012.
Midwestern Voices and Visions
Till July 27, 2014
Curated by Alix Refshauge
Seven artist residency programs, led by the Alliance of Artists Communities and The Joyce Foundation, set out to identify strong voices that represent today’s most promising and provocative talent and that reflect the rich diversity of the Midwest – artists whose work may as yet be unfamiliar but whose compelling visions help define the region and the country.
Midwestern Voices and Visions celebrates, supports, and promotes the work of highly talented, yet under-recognized artists of color and broadens awareness of and support for the opportunities available at Midwestern residency programs for artists of diverse backgrounds.
FEATURED ARTISTS
Maria Calderon
C.C. Ann Chen
Cristina Correa
Sayaka Ganz
Eric J. Garcia
LaMont Hamilton
Jiieh G. Hur
Diane Ramos
Mickalene Thomas, 2012.
Face Behind the 75 Portraits: An Interview with Lamont Hamilton
Recently I had the opportunity to catch up with the renowned self taught portrait photographer Lamont Hamilton. The east coast native is currently traveling across the U.S. photographing prominent artists of Color for his yet to be released, current project titled “75 Portraits”.
“…Photographed entirely on a large format camera, 75 Portraits is the culmination of my journey into art and the overwhelming need to capture the artist – the mind behind the craft and a glimpse of each legacy. A collection represents a mere snapshot of the cultural movers of our time.75 Portraits highlights artists of Color in the fields of the visual arts, film, music, theater, street art and performance art; from the industry’s more established names to the emerging newcomers who will soon illuminate the cultural radar. These portraits include artists such as Kerry James Marshall, Julie Mehretu, Barkley L. Hendricks, Vik Muniz, Hank Willis Thomas, Sonia Sanchez, Charles Burnett, Mickalene Thomas and John Outterbridge…“ -Press Release
NEOREVIVALIST: What was the idea behind this new project?
LAMONT HAMILTON: The initial idea was actually a daydream. I was reading an article on Clifford Owens at the start of his Anthologies series. In the article he was mentioning the black artists he had write scores for him which he performed for his series. Me, being an art lover, was disturbed by the fact that I didn’t know a lot of the artists he mentioned. So I looked them up and was even more despondent that I hadn’t been introduced to their work earlier. That frustration was taken out on the magazine which, besides Cliff, featured only one other black artists. This was Sunday, my R&R day so after my research and reading I closed my laptop down to take a siesta but before that I looked at an image I have of Basquiat by James Van Der Zee and I remember marveling on how fantastic that image was and how he and artists like Carl Van Vechten really captured their time and the cultural movers of the time. So with this on my mind I took a nap and was jolted out of my sleep with the revelation and the enthusiasm that I wanted to capture my peers, the cultural movers of my time. And the journey started… oh… and also underpinning this was this was the fact that I just heard Thelma Golden from the Studio Museum in Harlem on Charlie Rose making some fantastic points about the lack of representation of Black artist in the Western Art canon.
Terry Adkins, 2012.
NEOREVIVALIST: Unfortunately, that seems to be the case all too often actually. And especially in the current state I feel we see artists work but don’t actually get an intimate look at them. Do you think that exists even more so these days?
LAMONT HAMILTON: I think the lack of intimate view is because artists, for the most part, are more reclusive. Most are confined to studios for there practice. But I really don’t have much of an answer besides that…I think, as a portrait photographer, there’s a necessity to see people. The face is what we relate to. It’s what we remember. It’s how we associate a person first and foremost. We are a visual species. There’s something about seeing the face of someone who’s work we admire. It brings us closer to them. Whenever I think of Picasso I automatically think of the portrait Irving Penn did of him and that gaze. I think that is what’s missing also when we relate to black art. Most times we have no clue what the artists look like. We can point Andy Warhol out in a line up but not Jacob Lawrence or Romare Bearden. This could be systematic but I don’t know if I buy that completely.
NEOREVIVALIST: I definitely don’t buy it either… Especially when it comes to black people…
LAMONT HAMILTON: Yea. Overall, we are the image makers so that kinda falls under our responsibly. I just think most image makers are afraid of absolute blackness in a project
NEOREVIVALIST: Funny thing you say that, I saw a picture of a young Cicely Tyson the other day and had no idea it was her. Have you always been passionate about portrait photography?
LAMONT HAMILTON: Exactly! Imagine the impact if young people actually saw a bit of themselves in the cultural movers… If they saw opera singers, poets, painters, theatre actors that are doing fantastic things and are brown skinned like them. There’s a sort of pride in that but also a confidence that it is obtainable because they see themselves there…
NEOREVIVALIST: Well I’m in your book so I’m pretty excited about that. Haha! There’s your proof!
LAMONT HAMILTON: Exactly… Oh… and to answer your question about portraiture. I’ve always been interested in faces and nonverbal communications. Reading these with my camera was natural for me. I’m interested in people and the the stories on their faces. Portraits are a conversation record in a still image.
NEOREVIVALIST: Very well put, with that being said, is it a stretch to say there isn’t a portrait series comparable to yours In that aspect?
LAMONT HAMILTON: Honestly, I don’t know if there is a project comparable to mind. Perhaps there is, that’s not my concern. I’m just following my vision as an artists. But I will say I don’t think there’s any as all inclusive as mine. I mean I’ve covered all aspects of art from visual to performance to theatre to directors to opera to dance to street art to authors and poets. All together in a compendium
NEOREVIVALIST: Speaking of your project what is it all about? You have the book and what other mediums will you be using as well?
LAMONT HAMILTON: The goal is to have a traveling exhibition along with the book. I’m also creating an educational platform that will accompany the exhibition that will dive deeper than the portraits and provide a comprehensive look at the artists in the book and beyond in order to make black art apart of the contemporary art discussion. And not a subcategory. I’m working with a few educators to accomplish this. They’re putting together a curriculum for various educational levels.
Roger Bonair Agard, Poet, 2012.
Neorevivalist: Very dope. Don’t get assassinated by the man “keeping hope alive” and what not.
LAMONT HAMILTON: That’s what they call a martyr…not such a bad idea (laughs)
NEOREVIVALIST: Preach on brotha Hamilton. Chuuuuch! Haha! So I saw a video, which was very fresh, as well… is there a short film that will accompany this project? Is that something we can look forward to in the future?
LAMONT HAMILTON: (Laughs) The video was a friend of mine Malik Isasis idea. I think I may do something of the sorts down the line. Maybe try to team up with Art 21 or something.
NEOREVIVALIST: I’d love to see that in the future. Tell me about some of the people who are featured in the book? And try not to talk about me too much.
LAMONT HAMILTON: (Laughs) Well I have some heavy hitters besides you, just to name a few: Kerry James Marshall, Mickalene Thomas, Hank Willis Thomas, Terry Adkins, Barkley Hendricks, Jamel Shabazz, Julie Mehretu, Sonia Sanchez, Jessica Care Moore, Radcliffe Bailey, Fred Wilson, Maren Hassinger, Carrie Mae Weems, opera singer Morris Robinson, poet Thomas Sayers Ellis and so many more. I have a session with Amiri Baraka soon which Im super excited about. I’m also working on a Vol. ii which I started shooting for that’s going to include black artists working internationally… It’s not even fair to name names right now because there’s so many great artists I feel like I have to name the entire list…
NEOREVIVALIST: It’s like that! You’re gonna need to put a self portrait in one of you books soon!
LAMONT HAMILTON: (laughs)
NEOREVIVALIST: You have quite the series that hopefully creates a desire to be duplicated by others…
LAMONT HAMILTON: Hopefully it inspires folks to create not duplicate.
NEOREVIVALIST: True. But if its duplicated not only do we get more exposure in amalgamating success and black culture but you also will be able to sue people and get more money towards future projects. (Laughs)
LAMONT HAMILTON: I ain’t interest in litigation…I’m about inspiration. “Preach brotha Jesse!” (Laughs)
NEOREVIVALIST: (Laughs) Where’s that black fist!
LAMONT HAMILTON: On my Afro pick!
Lamont Hamilton at work.
NEOREVIVALIST: You have a very “old school” style with your imagery why is that?
LAMONT HAMILTON: My style, working with a large format camera is just my voice. In an interview Charlie Parker was asked why he plays a Tenor sax and not another instrument and he said “I talk like this, I don’t talk like that”. The large format particularly the 8×10 allows me to communicate best. It’s a conversation. In not obstructed by a camera stuck to my face. My sitter can see me and I can see them and we can dance. I can pay attention to the subtle movements and respond. I can see. Also, there’s something uneasy about the presence of the camera. My sitter can only be them selves in front of it because its so unfamiliar they concentrate on it rather than the mask of what they think a good picture looks like. I also only use 1 to 3 shots for my session. I believe a true portrait only happens within then. After that monotony sets in for the photographer and the subject puts on their mask.
NEOREVIVALIST: So when can people look for this project to be available for purchase?
LAMONT HAMILTON: Soon hopefully. I’m doing a USA Projects campaign to produce 150 artist editions to disseminate then from there I hope to land a publisher and go to print. It will be an artbook first and foremost so it probably won’t be at Barnes and Noble more like museum shops. I will produce general editions in the future to accompany the educational platform. I’m just now completing the portraits after 2 years of work. The output direction will shape up fully soon now that I can focus on that aspect of it.
NEOREVIVALIST: The marketing aspect?
LAMONT HAMILTON: Exactly. That’s a journey in and of itself.
NEOREVIVALIST: Why’d you choose 75 portraits? Just wondering.
LAMONT HAMILTON: Why did I choose 75 portraits..? Are u ready for a long answer?(laughs)
NEOREVIVALIST: Long answers are my favourite type of answer
LAMONT HAMILTON: Haha, alright. Honestly there wasn’t any real thought behind it. When I started, I was about 20 portraits in and I felt I need to have a realistic stopping point. So I figured if I do 25 portraits in Chicago, New York and LA I would have 75 and that would be a good foundation. Of course it didn’t work out that way…I’ve been to about 10 cities so far and counting. The title came because I didn’t want to brand it some glorified name like “the Black List” (no disrespect to Timothy Greenfield-Sanders). I wanted it to be straight forward so I just called it what it was- 75 Portraits. But even that has been shattered because I’ve done well over 90 that’s why I’m going to expand it to a Vol. II
NEOREVIVALIST: So you’re gonna end up doing 150 portraits. As they say in Paris, “you went H.A.M” (shameful blatant Yeezy reference) Last question, if you could do a self portrait of anyone living or dead who would it be?
LAMONT HAMILTON: (laughs) Yeah 150!
NEOREVIVALIST: Last question, if you could do a self portrait of anyone living or dead who would it be?
LAMONT HAMILTON: That’s a hard question. There’s so many I admire…but, if I had to choose, it would be Charlie Parker because I admire his music but mostly because of his genius and his torment I think I’d be able to capture that and not in a way that grotesquely highlights but in a way that looked deep into his humanity. I want to connect with his way of thinking or at least try to…
NEOREVIVALIST: Wrong answer. I was hoping you’d say “I already did a portrait of Lonnie Edwards no one else is comparable”… (Laughs)
LAMONT HAMILTON: (Laughs) Yeah him too!
Avery R. Young, Poet, 2012.
Courtesy/copyright: Lamont Hamilton.
Out of Neorevivalist, 2012.