Tate Photography: Ajamu X
This Tate Photography book explores the work of British photographic artist, curator, archivist and activist Ajamu X.
‘Self-portraiture then is a way to interrogate not just who I am in terms of my identity and sexuality, but, more importantly, who I can fantasise myself to be.’
Ajamu X is best known for his fine art photography which explores same-sex desire, the erotic and sensory, and the Black queer body. As a leading specialist in Black British LGBTQ+ history, heritage and memory, his work as an archivist and activist documents the lives and experiences of Black LGBTQ+ people in the United Kingdom.
‘I think photography privileges the visual, but in the darkroom the other senses kick in: the sonic, the tactility, the smell is important too.’
His work is held in many private and public collections, including Tate, the Rose Art Museum, Autograph, Arts Council of England, and the Victoria & Albert Museum.
The Tate Photography series is a celebration of international and British photography in the Tate collection and an introduction to some of the most significant photographers at work today. Each book focuses on an individual photographer and features a specially selected sequence of photographs, an introduction by a Tate curator, and a conversation with the photographer. These collaborations between artists and experts enrich our understanding of photography and its connection to everyday life, and move from city streets to seashores, across landscapes and subcultures, through identities and interiors, in a visual travelogue of our world today.
The theme for Series Three is Queer and Visible, bringing together four artists who use photography to unfold valuable insights into queer life. Each artist uniquely reflects upon societal constructs of sexuality and race and responds to the experience of living in a predominantly white and heteronormative Western society. Desire, identity and joy are artfully explored, upturning assumptions about blackness, race and queerness.
To see and to be seen, representation in good faith, artful storytelling, resonant images. These are the perspectives and qualities we seek from photography. The artist-photographer notices and captures, shows us pattern and meaning, emotion and connection, expanding the possible, making hearts and minds capacious.
Tate, 2025
Softcover
200 x 140mm
