Andre D. Wagner and the Art of Being Photo-Ready

Writing for The New Yorker, a contributor recalls a 2019 road trip through one of the Carolinas with photographer Andre D. Wagner, arranged by a publication that paired a writer with a photographer for a week to document a region. Stopped at a red light, Wagner aimed his camera at a group of young Black boys riding motorbikes two to a bike, shirts off; they threw their hands up and smiled. Wagner told the writer that Black people are often photo-ready and photo-eager, wanting to join the archive of what some dismiss as the mundane. The piece singles out Wagner's images of tenderness, including a 2020 New York City photograph of a couple before a MetroCard machine, one partner leaning into the other's Afro. A photo of a young Black sailor in a white uniform blowing smoke, fresh from naval basic training, is praised for capturing self-possession against a system that erases individuality. The writer cites Gordon Parks' view that a photograph's content is determined by the heart, not the eye, and notes the essay is drawn from "Andre D. Wagner: New City, Old Blues."