“I want to feel free to what our imagination can be and what we can be, breaking the barriers of what Blackness is and making it feel like we’re people versus a trend.”
—Micaiah CarterMicaiah Carter’s (American, b.1995) evocative image-making practice focuses on ‘family lineage, community and blending of the past and present in African American life.’ Adeline in Barrettes, 2018, the timeless work offered here, is nostalgic, forward-looking and current in equal measures. It shows the back of musician Adeline’s head, her hair adorned with multi-coloured, plastic barrettes in the shapes of carousel horses, butterflies and bows. ‘It gives a remembrance of girls getting their hair done for school or for church, and those little barrettes with the little twist-ups are just very nostalgic, reminding you of that feeling,’ Carter comments. ‘Also, the colours and the background give that childhood type of nostalgia that a lot of people are still searching back to in a way.’ It was during a shoot for Vogue with Adeline at New York’s Afropunk Festival, an annual event celebrating black culture and music, that Carter spontaneously asked her to turn around and photographed the back of her head, transforming a behind-the-scenes moment into a celebration of black voices and true diversity while ‘giving a nod of homage to the cultural lineage behind us.’
Featured in British Journal of Photography’s ‘Ones to Watch’ in 2020, the artist has shot for international publications such as Vogue, Vanity Fair and GQ and has collaborated with many high-profile brands, including Nike and Apple. His work has been exhibited internationally and his debut monograph Micaiah Carter: What’s My Name, featuring photographs he has created over the last decade, was published in 2023, Additionally, he is one of the founders of See In Black, an artist collective highlighting and supporting the advancement of black photographers.
This offering marks the artist’s debut at auction.