When I Think About Power

(Hardback)

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'The freedom Hart has felt while working on the book has been one of its joys, and it's shown him what he wants his photography to be: an exploration of the juxtaposition of power and vulnerability.' - Creative Review

When I Think About Power is a black and white photo series showcasing over 70 portraits focusing on the notion of power as it relates to the Black queer experience. Started in 2019, this project investigates and nourishes modern-day's reimagining of man through themed chapters questioning the conflicting dynamics of the Black queer man's power. Hart's approach to this work is rooted in an examination of his own journey towards self-acceptance growing up in Macon, Georgia, as he states in the coinciding text, every day of my life I have been called my father. Through the process of visually exploring the differences and similarities between himself and the men who surround him, studying the words of Black queer icons, and even researching the visibility of power throughout history in societies like the Ming dynasty or ancient Egypt, Hart has created a poetically driven collection of images that unravel a power that plenty of queer individuals seek to find at some point in their life while simultaneously depicting the struggle that can often align itself with this power. From queerness, dress, to heritage, this series documents the journey of discovering the power within.

'The freedom Hart has felt while working on the book has been one of its joys, and it's shown him what he wants his photography to be: an exploration of the juxtaposition of power and vulnerability.' - Creative Review

Reviews

Hart excavates his own ideas about what it means to be a man and what it means to be powerful while offering imagery that departs from much of what he had been seeing in contemporary visualizations of Black masculinity.--Mikelle Street "VMAN"

Author Bio

Georgia native and NYU graduate, Eric Hart Jr., is image-making artist based in Brooklyn, NY. As a photographer, Hart's stylized portraiture is an exploration of blackness and shifting identities within black culture. His visual language is influenced by the nuances of intersectionality. From masculinity, queerness, to dress, his work aims to display people like himself in all of their power and beauty. Hart's photo work has been published in publications such as Rolling Stone Magazine, The Washington Post, and i-D magazine, as well as praised by artists such as Beyonc and Spike Lee. Hart is a two-time Gordon Parks scholar, 2022 Forbes 30 under 30 Art & Style select, 2022 Doritos SOLID BLACK Changemaker and in 2020 Hart was named one of Men's Health Magazine's 20-year-old maverisks changing America.