Dandy Lion: (Re)Articulating Black Masculine Identity

The Nathan Cummings Foundation is pleased to announce Dandy Lion: (Re)Articulating Black Masculine Identity, a traveling photography exhibition that is centered in ideas of Black joy and oppositional fashion as resistance. Curated by Shantrelle P. Lewis and organized by the Museum of Contemporary Photography at Columbia College, the participating artists for this iteration include: Akintola Hanif, Allison Janae Hamilton, Arteh Odjidja, Adama Delphine Fawundu, Charl Landvreugd, Daniele Tamagni, Hanif Abdur-Rahim, Jati Lindsay, Jody Ake, Kia Chenelle, L. Kasimu Harris, Laylah Amatullah Barrayn, Harness Hamese, Radcliffe Roye, Richard Terborg, Rose Callahan, Russell K. Frederick, Sara Shamsavari, Terence Nance, Numa Perrier and James Maiki.

This acclaimed traveling exhibition features images of photographers and filmmakers from around the African Diaspora. Their subject matter is Black men who defy stereotypical and monolithic understandings of masculinity within the Black community. Using the African aesthetic and swagger as a point of departure, Dandy Lions appropriate classical European fashion elements to articulate a self-actualized identity. Throughout history, most notably during the past two centuries, particularly in the west, Black men have used fashion as a tool of rebellion. To date, the exhibition has traveled to major and community institutions throughout the U.S. and Europe. In spring 2017, Dandy Lion was published as a coffee table book by Aperture.