Tyler Mitchell

4 days ago

“I hope to create a reference to the past, to the land we’ve lived on over generations, but also into the future, asking what that could look like for black people to re-command this space and reinhabit it in a new way.”

-Tyler Mitchell, episode 406 of Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso

What does photography need to do now? Artist Tyler Mitchell has been asking (and attempting to answer) that question since making history as the first Black photographer to shoot a Vogue cover back in 2018. Since then (he was only 23-years-old at the time) his work has been celebrated in museums around the world, featured in publications like Vanity Fair and W, and, ultimately, published in his debut monograph, I Can Make You Feel Good. He joins us this week around the opening of his revelatory exhibition, Ghost Images, now available at the Gagosian Gallery in New York City.

Below is a virtual retrospective featuring the works discussed in this conversation. As you follow along, we’ve included corresponding time-codes bolded to help guide you through the tour.

Tyler Mitchell: A Retrospective

See Your Halo, 2018
(2:00)

Archival Pigment Print
39 7/8 x 33 1/8 in
101.4 x 84 cm
Edition of 3 plus 2 artist’s proofs

© Tyler Mitchell
Courtesy the artist and Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery

Untitled (Group Hula Hoop), 2019
(4:00)

Archival pigment print
40 x 50 inches (101.6 x 127 cm)
Edition of 3 plus 2 artist’s proofs

© Tyler Mitchell
Courtesy the artist and Gagosian

All American Family Portrait, 2018
(8:00)

Archival pigment print
82 7/8 x 59 inches (210.5 x 149.9 cm)
Edition of 3 plus 2 artist’s proofs

© Tyler Mitchell
Courtesy the artist and Gagosian

Old Fears and Old Joys, 2024
(10:00)

UV print on glass, mirror, aluminum frame
64 12/16 x 52 inches (164.7 x 132.1 cm)
Framed: 65 1/4 x 52 3/8 x 2 inches (165.7 x 33 x 5.1 cm) 

© Tyler Mitchell
Photo: Jackie Furtado
Courtesy the artist and Gagosian

Lamine’s Apparition (After Frederick Sommer), 2024
(14:35)

Gelatin silver print
40 x 50 inches (101.6 x 127 cm)
Edition of 3 plus 2 artist’s proofs

© Tyler Mitchell
Photo: Owen Conway
Courtesy the artist and Gagosian

Frederick Sommer, 1946
(15:15)

Max Ernst
Gelatin silver print
7 9/16 x 9 1/2″ (19.2 x 24.1 cm)

© MoMa

An Embrace, 2024
(17:24)

UV print on glass, mirror, aluminum frame
52 x 64 9/16 inches (132.1 x 164 cm)
Framed: 52 3/8 x 64 7/8 x 2 inches (133 x 164.8 x 5.1 cm)
Unique

© Tyler Mitchell
Photo: Jackie Furtado
Courtesy the artist and Gagosian

Gwendolyn’s Apparition, 2024
(17:27)

Archival pigment print
50 1/4 x 40 3/4 x 1 3/4 inches (127.6 x 103.5 x 4.4 cm)
Edition of 3 plus 2 artist’s proofs

© Tyler Mitchell
Photo: Owen Conway
Courtesy Gagosian

Untitled (El Paquete), 2015
(32:20)

© Tyler Mitchell
Courtesy Gagosian

Untitled (El Paquete), 2015
(33:46)

© Tyler Mitchell
Courtesy Gagosian

Untitled (El Paquete), 2015
(34:06)

© Tyler Mitchell
Courtesy Gagosian

Untitled (El Paquete), 2015
(34:16)

© Tyler Mitchell
Courtesy Gagosian

Kevin Abstract, The Fader, 2016
(41:40)

© Tyler Mitchell
Courtesy Gagosian

Lil Uzi, The Fader, 2017
(41:45)

© Tyler Mitchell
Courtesy Gagosian

Picnic, 2021
(46:27)

Archival pigment print
63 x 77 11/16 inches (160 x 197.3 cm)
Framed: 64 1/2 x 79 x 2 1/2 inches (163.8 x 200.7 x 6.4 cm)
Edition of 3 plus 2 artist’s proofs

© Tyler Mitchell
Courtesy Gagosian

Beyoncé, Vogue US, 2018
(49:08)

Editorial

© Tyler Mitchell
Courtesy Gagosian

Marc Jacobs, FW, 2017
(53:01)

© Tyler Mitchell
Courtesy Gagosian

Marc Jacobs, FW, 2017
(53:25)

© Tyler Mitchell
Courtesy Gagosian

VP Kamala Harris, Vogue US, 2021
(59:24)

Editorial

© Tyler Mitchell
Courtesy the artist

Riverside Scene, 2021
(1:12:02)

Archival pigment print
63 x 78 1/2 inches (160 x 199.4 cm)
Edition of 3 plus 2 artist’s proofs

© Tyler Mitchell
Courtesy Gagosian

Cumberland Island Tableau, 2024
(1:13:42)

Archival pigment print
63 x 78 inches (160 x 198.3 cm)
Edition of 3 plus 2 artist’s proofs

© Tyler Mitchell
Courtesy the artist and Gagosian

Show-notes:

Tyler Mitchell