Smith, Ming
1947-present · Contribution: 1972-present
Fine-art photographer
Became the first Black woman member of the Kamoinge Workshop around 1973 and, in 1979, the first African American woman photographer whose work was acquired by the Museum of Modern Art’s permanent collection
Portraits are AI-generated interpretations, not photographs.
Quick facts
- Born
- 1947, Detroit, Michigan
- Active since
- 1972
- Category
- Press & Photography
- Best known for
- First Black woman photographer collected by the Museum of Modern Art
Impact on the world
Smith opened the doors of the country's most prestigious museum to Black women photographers, decades before the art world broadly recognized her achievement.
Sources
- Studio Museum in Harlem
1 more sources and references are available to members.
Related visionaries
Draper, Louis Hansel
1935-2002
Helped found the Kamoinge Workshop in 1963 and served as the guiding force behind its founding vision and 50-year history, photographing Harlem street life and civil rights-era figures including Fannie Lou Hamer, Malcolm X, and John Coltrane
Barboza, Anthony
1944-present
Built a five-decade commercial and fine-art photography career after joining the Kamoinge Workshop in 1963 as its youngest member, later serving as the collective’s president from 2005 to 2016 and co-editing its landmark 2015 history, Timeless: Photographs by Kamoinge
Smith, Beuford
1936-2025
Joined the Kamoinge Workshop as an early member in 1965 and later served as its president, co-founded the Black Photographers Annual in 1972, and spent six decades documenting Black community life, jazz musicians, and street scenes in New York City
Moutoussamy-Ashe, Jeanne
1951-present
Spent five years (1977-1982) documenting the Gullah Geechee community of South Carolina’s Daufuskie Island before development transformed it, publishing the results as Daufuskie Island (1982) with a foreword by Alex Haley, and authored Viewfinders (1986), the first book-length history of Black women photographers in America