About

We champion Black photographers

We champion Black photographers by amplifying their voices, celebrating their artistry, and advocating for their rightful place within the photographic canon.

We reclaim the lens.

Photography is one of the most powerful storytelling tools we have. But for too long, it has been used against us, to distort, erase and confine Black life.

From its earliest days, the camera has upheld colonial ways of seeing, shaping a visual culture where Black people are often shown in fragments: as suffering, as spectacle, as other.

We’re here to change that.

Why we exist

theBLKGZE is a platform dedicated to centring Black photographers, not just as contributors to visual culture, but as architects of it.

We amplify their voices, celebrate their artistry, and challenge the systems that have long denied them access, authorship and agency.

We believe Black photographers must be free to create without permission, to tell stories with complexity and care, and to be seen on their own terms.

Who we mean by Black

"Blackness is not a matter of biology or genealogy. It’s a matter of belonging."
— Dr. Yaba Blay

At theBLKGZE, Blackness is a practice, not a tick-box. It’s how we move, feel, imagine and resist. It’s lived. It’s layered. It’s expansive.

We are inspired by the work of Dr. Yaba Blay and Tina M. Campt. And we honour Blackness as something felt and chosen, not imposed.

We welcome African, Afro-Caribbean, Afro-Latinx, Afro-Arab, Aboriginal, mixed-heritage and diasporic voices. If you live it, feel it, or carry it, this space is yours.

What we do

We honour the past, fight for the present, and shape the future of Black photography.

Our work is rooted in a single aim:
To ensure Black people are seen truthfully and powerfully through the lens.

We celebrate those who photograph with empathy and integrity.
We challenge the systems that silence or sideline them.
We hold space for the full spectrum of Black life, boldly, unapologetically, and without compromise.

We know the weight photography can carry.
We also know its power to heal, reveal, and reimagine.
That’s the power we choose.

How we do it

Through this platform, our monthly newsletter, and our social channels, we spotlight Black photographers worldwide, ensuring their stories are seen, heard and remembered.

Our guiding principles:

• We uplift work that honours the humanity of Black people, not content that exploits pain for clicks or spectacle.
• We name and challenge NSFBC (Not Safe for Black People & Culture) imagery, and call for accountability in how images are circulated, celebrated, and archived.
• We advocate for equity and access in photography, confronting the gatekeeping that upholds a colonial gaze.
• We champion creative freedom, the right to explore, experiment, and express without systemic bias or imposed narrative.

Photography should not confine our stories. It should set them free.

Who we are

We are more than interviewers, researchers, photographers and archivists.

We are witnesses.
We are protectors.
We are keepers of a creative flame that refuses to be extinguished.

We centre the voices and work of Black photographers, photojournalists and visual storytellers whose practice is rooted in truth, imagination, and community.

They don’t just deserve recognition, they demand it.

We do this work because it must be done. Because Black photographers are not on the margins of photography. They are vital to it.

Through their lens, we learn what it means to see, and to be seen. And in that moment, we are changed.

Contribute

theBLKGZE is a space for shared insight, creative resistance, and collective imagination. A space built by us, for us.

We invite Black photographers to contribute their stories, images, and perspectives that challenge how we see and expand who gets to be seen.

Your work matters. Your vision belongs here.

Read our manifesto

theBLKGZE is more than a perspective, it’s a promise.

A promise to see fully. To feel deeply.
To frame truth on our terms, not theirs.

Our manifesto is more than words.
It’s a declaration of intent. Of vision. Of power.

Our manifesto is a declaration of vision, purpose and power.

Read it. Share it. Carry it with you.