The Jamaican-Iranian filmmaker and photographer Khalik Allah, based in New York, documents the lives of various communities within the African diaspora. Whether capturing images in East Harlem for the film Field Niggas (2014), or his first book Souls Against the Concrete (University of Texas Press, 2017), or travelling into rural Jamaica to explore his family roots in Black Mother (2018), Allah’s practice revolves around young Black people and women — aiming to give them “Knowledge of Self”, to uplift them and raise awareness of the contributions of Black people to world history prior to American slavery. He reflects on the gaze cast upon Black communities in urban settings and the ethics of portraying marginalisation on the cinema screen.
Khalik Allah leads a workshop in which he explores the spiritual implications of his work — namely, the use of photography to capture a person’s essence from a perspective free of judgement; the recognition of every individual as a light, and as a child of God; the choice to find beauty everywhere and in everything around us; and the use of photography as a means of building intimate relationships.
The artist will also share key moments in his development as a filmmaker and photographer, reflecting on the experience of creating work that is not always understood, the search for representation (gallery, etc.), the balance between artistic production and the art market, and the honesty his practice demands.
