A member of the Kamoinge Workshop of photographers in New York, Barboza is largely self-taught and has an inimitable, highly intuitive vision that he refers to as “eye dreaming,” or “a state of mind that’s almost like meditation.” Photographing in the studio and on the streets for more than 50 years, his images grab the viewer’s attention: the gleam in the eye of an artist he photographed for his series Black Borders; the attitude radiating from a picture accompanying a celebrity profile in the New York Times Magazine or a fashion spread in Essence. Though Barboza’s work has appeared in magazines and museums for decades, no publication until now has captured the range and breadth of his career.
Eye Dreaming: Photographs by Anthony Barboza (J. Paul Getty Museum, $40) follows Barboza’s prolific career from his youth in New Bedford, Massachusetts, to his formative years in New York in the 1960s, to the present day. An introduction by renowned author and critic Hilton Als underscores Barboza’s importance and impact. An essay by curator Aaron Bryant contextualizes Barboza’s life and career as they map against major civil rights events in the United States. In an intimate interview between the artist and curator Mazie M. Harris, Barboza offers astute, humorous, and intimate musings on his long career, foundational influences, and artistic legacy. This monograph, the first on the artist, will appeal to aficionados of photography and Black art and culture.
