Resistance//Resilience

From the seminal photojournalism of Gordon Parks to Amy Sherald’s recent portrait of the late Breonna Taylor, contextualizing the history of Black art as activism instigates a paradoxically sobering, yet arousing reaction to our country's current state. A series of tragedies has forced yet another reckoning with policies and institutions that have continually failed Black Americans. But much like generations past, today’s young Black women and men have been uncompromising in their collective call for liberation - nowhere better reflected than in the emergent contemporary protest art.

From those who’ve taken up Parks’s documentarian mantle to the infographics tailormade to gain traction on social media, Black visual thinkers are confronting the moment with decisive action, heart, and creativity.

This exhibition communicates not one truth about Black identity, but confronts the multiplicity intrinsic to centuries of resistance — and as importantly, the resilience that furthers our unfettered pursuit of self-actualization and equality.

25% of sales from all artworks sold this year will go donated to the Black Youth Project 100 (aka BYP100 www.byp100.org) - a member-based organization of Black youth activists (ages 18-35) creating justice and freedom for all Black people.

"4 Generations" by Myesha Evon Gardner, From $250

"Gettin' Fresh" by Myesha Evon Gardner, From $250

"Death Before Dishonor" by Myesha Evon Gardner, From $250

"
An ode to black fatherhood: your existence is a gift to the mothers, daughters, sons, sisters, and brothers who love you unconditionally. You are the nurturing light and tradition that is passed down from generation to generation. You are valuable, you are magnificent, and absolutely necessary.— Myesha Evon Gardner

"Dodging the Devil III" by Braylen Dion, From $150

"Dodging the Devil II" by Braylen Dion, From $150

"Dodging the Devil IV" by Braylen Dion, From $150

"Dodging the Devil II" by Braylen Dion, From $150

"
Let everyday be JUNETEENTH. Let us pick up the blueprint and roadmap of great ideas founded in Blackness left by those elders who courageously thought and fought. Only true reflection, critical thinking and action will prepare us for this moment in history.— Kenneth Montgomery via Anthony Geathers

"The Climb" by Sean Pressley, From $150

<p>"Hands in the Studio for All, Black Lives Matter, Print Ain't Dead Edition of Original Work, Studio Hands #1 (featuring polaroid of Braid Hijab Mask), 2020" by Joanne Petit-Frère + Print Ain't Dead, Graphics by Julian Parikh, From $240</p>

"Hands in the Studio for All, Black Lives Matter, Print Ain't Dead Edition of Original Work, Studio Hands #1 (featuring polaroid of Braid Hijab Mask), 2020" by Joanne Petit-Frère + Print Ain't Dead, Graphics by Julian Parikh, From $240

<p>"Hands in the Studio for All, Black Lives Matter, Print Ain't Dead Edition of Original Work, Studio Hands #2 (featuring polaroid of "Bomb Duality" Crown), 2020" by Joanne Petit-Frère + Print Ain't Dead, From $240</p>

"Hands in the Studio for All, Black Lives Matter, Print Ain't Dead Edition of Original Work, Studio Hands #2 (featuring polaroid of "Bomb Duality" Crown), 2020" by Joanne Petit-Frère + Print Ain't Dead, From $240

"Power to Black People" by Anthony Geathers, From $150

"
... let us maintain the strength and unity we’ve been showing outside of cyberspace in our communities. It's gonna be all hands on deck in this decade as we build toward the future for our youth, for our communities, to seek freedom and liberation from systemic oppression by the hands of this country.—Anthony Geathers

"The New Abolitionists" by Vanessa Charlot

"Claiming the Streets" by Vanessa Charlot, From $150

"
These photographs explore the bold nuanced existence of Black life while affirming the value of their own lives and calling into question the hypocrisy of American claimed values.— Vanessa Charlot

"Preparing for Battle" by Quan Brinson, From $150

"Haircut" by Gregory Prescott, From $150

"Onyx" by Vanessa Charlot, From $150

"Boy Behind the Tree" by Amandla Baraka, From $150

"
We should offer ourselves the feeling of freedom, moments of allowing our souls to disconnect from our bodies, to be connected with all parts of this universe outside of ourselves. Experiencing that joy is radical and a form of resistance against what they tell us we don't have the capacity to feel. I say fly high...— Felicita Felli Maynard

"Transcend" by Felicita Felli Maynard, From $380

"Father and Son" by Sean Pressley, From $110

"Boys of Jamestown" by Mahaneela Choudhury-Reid, From $150

Amandla Baraka

Amandla Baraka is a self-taught Director and Photographer raised in Montclair, NJ with strong roots in Newark, New Jersey. Amandla established herself as a photographer through fashion which eventually transformed into fashion filmmaking. She spent a year directing short video content for Pyer Moss before she was hired to direct the “Focus Breathe-In” Global Adidas campaign. Shortly after that, she was hired to direct two music videos for RCA signed artist, Wesson Desir.

Now based in Brooklyn, NY — Her experiences influence her contemplative images, capturing the stillness in a passing moment and what that might translate to. Her video work is an homage to empathy, humanity, and curiosity.

Anthony Geathers

Anthony Geathers was born in the Bedford Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, New York on April 15, 1990. Geathers discovered and found a passion for photography in the seventh grade. He studied photography in high school at the High School of Graphic Communication Arts from 2005 to 2008. He served in the Marine Corps from 2008 to 2012, doing two combat deployments to Afghanistan as a machine gunner.

After returning to Brooklyn, he attended the School of Visual Arts from 2012-2016 and graduated with a BFA in Photography and Video. Geathers photographs sports, athletes, portraits, advertising, photojournalism and portraiture work.

Braylen Dion

Braylen Dion is a 21 year old filmmaker and photographer whose work aims to renew the representation of Black people in media by personifying intimacy, and softness. Developing upon his interest in photography that began at 11 years old, Dion’s work has recently been featured in Vanity Fair, The New York Times, Business Week, BET, Photographic Journal, and BRICK Magazine. His commercial work includes collaborations with Sprite, Nike, AFROPUNK and Sony Music among others.

Braylen is currently based in Atlanta, Georgia.

Felicita Felli Maynard

Felicita Felli Maynard is a NYC interdisciplinary artist and educator. They received their BFA from Brooklyn College, with a concentration in film photography, and use the medium to not only better understand themselves, but their ancestors as well.

Maynard has shown work at the African American Museum in Philadelphia, Westchester Community College, Flux Factory, Spectrum Gallery at MCLA College, Photoville in Brooklyn, and Pen + Brush Gallery in NYC. Maynard has been an artist in residence at Smack Mellon, NURTUREarts, and BRIC.

Gregory Prescott

Gregory Prescott aims to create diversity in fine art photography. He uses his images to broaden the scope and redefine existing considerations of beauty. Prescott shoots mainly portraits and nudes to shine light on the different skin tones, skin types, body types, hair textures, cultures and sexualites of men and women.

Gregory is an emerging, self-taught photographer currently residing in Los Angeles, CA., he has spent most of his life in Houston, TX and almost 4 years in New York City. Prescott has self-published a book of his work, Only Human, and continues to shoot for upcoming projects.

Joanne Petit-Frère

Joanne Petit-Frère is a hair sculptor & archive director; creating hair-based artifacts - both self-documented & in collaboration - thru film, photography as well, are activated by performance thru their moniker & production house JoGoesWest. Their work has been exhibited in MoMA PS1, New Museum, Coopers Gallery at Harvard University as well publications, The New Yorker, Vogue Italia & The Evening Standard. Petit-Frère will be exhibiting in Tulsa, Oklahoma this upcoming Spring for Philbrook Museum's exhibition [From the Limitations of Now].

Mahaneela Choudhury-Reid

Mahaneela is a photographer and director from London, UK and currently based in Brooklyn. Coming from a diverse cultural background, Mahaneela is inspired by her Ghanian, Indian and Jamaican ancestry. Her work explores themes of diasporic history, music and culture, with a focus on celebrating the beauty of Black and brown folk through her bright, colorful gaze.

Myesha Evon Gardner

Myesha Evon Gardner is a Brooklyn, New York-based photographer and art director originally from Cleveland, Ohio. Cultural and social examinations by way of personal experiences influence her lens, which aims to expand a historically narrow presentation of underrepresented people and cultures—and directly challenge the limitations of such narratives. Gardner’s ongoing explorations depicting themes of legacy, love, and labor offer an intimate perspective on the pride, joy, and self-determination of her beloved familial relationships and larger community.

Gardner holds a BFA degree in photography and graphic design from Parsons School of Design in New York City.

Quan Brinson

Quan Brinson is a Newark, NJ native whose work is about making Black people, especially children, feel beautiful and inspired. Brinson hopes to use images as proof that we are a beautiful people. "My work is about uplifting black people. Allowing us to see and internalize our self-image in a better light. Therefore having more pride in oneself. Also, I like to use my work to inspire others."

Sean Pressley

Sean Pressley is an American Photographer from Charleston, SC now based in Brooklyn, New York, who uses documentary portraiture chronicling his community, along with staged recreations of scenes from memory or imagination to explore the intricacies and complex honesties in seemingly everyday moments, emotions, and routines.

His work has been featured in The NY Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, and many others.

Vanessa Charlot

Vanessa Charlot is a documentary photographer living and working between St. Louis, Missouri and Miami, Florida. She shoots primarily in black and white to explore the immutability of the collective human experience and to disrupt compositional hierarchy. Her work focuses on the intersectionality of spirituality, socio-economic issues and sexual/gender expression. The purpose of her work is to produce visual representations of varied human existences that are free of an oppressive gaze.

She has worked as a freelance photographer and lecturer throughout the U.S., Caribbean and Southeast Asia. Her photographs have been commissioned by Vogue, The New Yorker, Oprah Magazine, The Atlantic, New York Magazine, Buzzfeed, Artnet News among other national and international publications.

Press

This Black History Month, TRNK founder Tariq Dixon wanted to use his platform to directly address the Black Lives Matter protests of summer 2020 and to imagine a way that he, as a Black retailer and the head of a design studio, could affect change. The result is the latest installment of the TRNK Editions art series, “Resistance::Resilience,” a collection of photographic and mixed-media works that aim to contextualize the history of Black activism in the United States.

Curator Tariq Dixon tells Highsnobiety, "Generations of Black Americans have led countless resistance efforts in pursuit of justice and equality. And despite progress often being incremental or sometimes even regressive, our resilience and self-actualization allow us to persist." The title Resistance/Resilience reflects that, "the two efforts are circular and mutually reliant."
Resistance/Resilience intends to communicate the truth about Black identity. Confronting the comfortability with struggle and the ability to recover, which ultimately furthers our fight for equality. “These types of projects are my favorite part of my job. They’re motivated by a personal passion or curiosity, and allow me to more deeply investigate those questions,” Dixon exclaims.
Tariq Dixon, founder of NYC-based design studio TRNK, has curated a digital exhibition, Resistance/Resilience, featuring the works of 11 Black artists — including Amandla Baraka, Myesha Evon Gardner and Felicita Felli Maynard — whose works explore identity and activism.