Artist and photographer Simon Frederick has given his collection of photos of 37 prominent black Britons to the National Portrait Gallery, in return for a donation from Oath, the parent company of AOL and Yahoo. The portfolio includes names such as Naomi Campbell, Laura Mvula and Sir Lenny Henry and was part of a BBC Two documentary, titled “Black is the New Black,” aired last year. Frederick’s subjects spoke about being black and British in a four-episode series.According to The Guardian, the gallery’s head of photographs Phillip Prodger was proud to receive the works for the national portrait collection. The personalities in the portfolio were selected for their accomplishments in business, culture, politics, science and religion.Artist Yinka Shonibare, Guardian journalist Gary Younge, actor Thandie Newton, rapper Dizzee Rascal, the Sky at Night presenter Maggie Oderin-Pocock and the chief executive of Ofcom, Sharon White feature among the photographs.Reportedly, the writer of the series Malorie Blackman was told by her careers teacher as a teenager that “Black people don’t become teachers.” Blackman went on to become a children’s laureate. The title of Frederick’s documentary is sourced from the fashion cliché. In an interview to The Voice, he said that black people keep reinventing themselves in everything they do.The portraits are set to be the focus of a major display at the National Portrait Gallery in November 2018. They will help update the gallery’s “Black Power” series that was obtained from Donald McLellan in 1998 and features portraits of artist Sonia Boyce, poet Benjamin Zephaniah and civil servant Heather Rabbatts.Click here for a sneak peek at the images.
↧