2014 Contact Photography Festival: Part 3

Communicating Identity in 40 Years of Hip Hop Photography 
Gladstone Hotel, May 2-31, 2014

by Magdalyn Asimakis

As a nod to the 40^th year since hip hop was founded in New York’s south Bronx, the Gladstone Hotel is showing a selection of iconic photographic portraits of hip hop artists and emcees for the Contact Photography Festival. This exhibition does not only document the cultural phenomenon through these individuals, but also explores the communication of persona through photography, and the collaboration between photographer and artist to convey the subject’s identity, in particular the relationship between the individual’s past roots and present artistry.

While collaboration between photographers and subjects are not uncommon, seeing these portraits together in one space is at once compelling and thoughtful. In these pieces, two artists work together to render the identity of the one who acts as subject, as they attempt summarize a persona or identity in one image for mass consumption. The approaches to this were various. Jonathan Mannion’s half-portrait of Lauryn Hill staring straight at the viewer radiates her energy, with just enough negative space surrounding her to suggest a connection with her surroundings. His photograph of The Game sitting in his kitchen, gun in hand, cautiously peaking through the curtains at something we cannot see addresses the climate of violence and drug trade that was synonymous with the milieu that hip hop evolved out of. Nabil Elderkin’s striking extreme close-up of Lil’ Wayne’s closed eyes to reveal the tattoos on his eyelids that read “Fear” and “God” hone in on a marked characteristic that reflects a very personal belief of a very public persona. Some portraits felt historical and intimate, like Estevan Oriol’s image of Erykah Badu, some were lively and candid like Ernie Paniccioli’s Biggie in his Jeep, and others felt promotional like Matt Barnes’ portrait of Drake. Using visual signifiers like dress, props, and pose, both photographers and artists address another facet of hip hop: the relevance of communication through visual culture.

For what this exhibition lacks in curatorial complexity, it makes up for in not really needing to be complex. It is concise and thoughtful. Every image is iconic, and there are no interpretive aids other that one introductory panel. These portraits that immortalized famous emcees at the very least act as time capsules of a cultural moment that continues to resonate on a global scale. The evolution of hip hop is suggested as the portraits range from Afrika Bambaataa to Kendrick Lamar, and the individuality of each portrait seems to represent a moment when the movement was progressed and diversified by both photographer and subject.

Magdalyn Asimakis lives in Toronto, Ontario and works as a research assistant in the curatorial department at the Art Gallery of Ontario, she is a regular contributor to BlackFlash Magazine and our Contact Photography Festival correspondent.