Kirby

Alfred Amadu Conteh practices an unconventional approach to contemporary portraiture, one that offers virtuous narratives of marginalized people as a way to empower African Americans and enlist them as stewards of Black culture and history. Working from photographs, Conteh portrays his subjects in the manner they wished to be posed. Here, he portrays Kirby, whose stern expression imparts dignity, grace, and an inner wisdom, qualities that recall the black pride movement of the 1960s. As such, the portrait functions as a positive expression of African American culture, while at the same time evoking the persistent inequities and challenges that remain for many people of color in the United States.