In Los Angeles, The Annenberg Space for Photography presents, through February 26, 2016, Identity: Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, The List Portraits. Conceived to highlight the breakthroughs and achievements of marginalized groups, the List portraits illustrate the richness and diversity in each of the represented communities. Greenfield-Sanders engages with subjects from a broad range of fields including politics, music, civic activism, film, and sports. While working with a diverse group of individuals, Greenfield-Sanders maintains a distinctive approach—a plain background illuminated by a single light that captures an intimate view of the subjects. He also shoots the large-format photographs on film using a Deardorff camera usually in his studio in New York. Accompanying the portraits in the exhibition are documentary films directed by Greenfield-Sanders that feature interviews with subjects from the series.
The List Portraits which brings together for the first time all 151 photographs of artist Timothy Greenfield-Sanders’s acclaimed List series. The newest series of portraits, The Trans List, features 40 intimate and revealing photographs of members of the transgender community and makes its debut at this exhibit. Also on display are works from the project’s four existing installments—The Black List, The Latino List, The Women’s List, and The Out List. The List series offers a refreshing and deeply engaging look into race, gender, class, sexuality, and ethnicity in America. Continuing the project’s exploration in both photography and film, The Trans List will also debut as an HBO Documentary Film on December 5, 2016.
The project’s name derives from the term “blacklist,” which has historically referred to marginalized groups that are denied society’s approval. Beginning with The Black List, the series took on the name to reclaim the term and change its meaning to a roll call of distinction. Following its inception, the series has evolved to showcase more communities. The project also extended to other mediums—Greenfield-Sanders captured portrait subjects on film and incorporated text and interviews by various collaborators, including noted film critic Elvis Mitchell, award-winning journalists Maria Hinojosa and Sandra Guzman, director Sam McConnell, and, most recently, transgender author and advocate Janet Mock. The List project now encompasses 151 portraits and interviews, eight documentaries, four books, thirteen solo museum exhibitions, two museum catalogs, and an educational initiative reaching schools and universities.
Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, The List Portraits
Through February 26, 2016
The Annenberg Space for Photography
2000 Avenue of the Stars #10
Los Angeles, CA 90067
https://www.annenbergphotospace.org/
