Micaiah Carter (b. 1995) is one of the most exciting photographic voices of recent times. At 30-years-old, he has quickly risen to prominence, making portraits of the likes of Pharrell, Spike Lee and Zendaya alongside being featured in prestigious publications such as Vogue, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and Vanity Fair. His commercial clients include Nike, Apple, Ralph Lauren, and Valentino. Across high-profile collaborations and personal work, Carter blends youth culture, fine art and street style, with the aim of building “a quality platform for representation of people of colour that hasn’t been seen before.”
It’s an approach that has not gone unnoticed. In 2019, Carter’s work was featured in The New Black Vanguard, a landmark book celebrating contemporary Black creativity. Fifteen international image-makers, including Dana Scruggs, Nadine Ijewere and Tyler Mitchell, as well as stylists, models and make-up artists, were selected by curator and critic Antwaun Sargent, Director at Gagosian. The publication recognised a new kind of editorial portraiture defined by authenticity and a focus on the multifarious lived experiences of Black individuals. The following year, Carter was featured in British Journal of Photography’s “Ones to Watch.” By 2023, he published his debut monograph, What’s My Name, a critically-acclaimed title which “speaks on the family lineage, community, and blending of the past and present in African American life.” Moreover, he is one of the founders of See in Black, an artist collective dedicated to uplifting Black voices.
Carter’s latest exhibition, Tender Heart, is at Amerikahaus in Munich, a venue whose programming is dedicated to cultural output from the USA, Canada, and Latin America. The show represents a culmination of his practice, offering a visual meditation on legacy, memory and the evolving nature of personal identity over time. The images move between archival and contemporary, portraying family members, friends and strangers against domestic interiors, outdoor landscapes and surreal backdrops. Carter cites Carrie Mae Weems as inspiration here (think Family Pictures and Stories or the famed Kitchen Table Series), alongside wider influences from the Black Power movement, Jamel Shabazz’s street photography and fashion imagery by Alasdair McLellan. “Across generations and through intimate gestures, this work traces a personal and collective journey – one where the past is not fixed but lives on in the present, embedded in our skin, our style, and our homes,” Carter says. “I was born into a world of reinvention, and each image embodies this truth: Black identity is fluid, delicate, resilient, and constantly renewed.”
Featured images include Adeline in Barrettes (2018), taken during a Vogue shoot at the Afropunk Festival in New York. The musician’s hair is adorned with brightly-coloured, nostalgic accessories in the shape of bows, butterflies and carousel horses. It’s a powerful expression of identity. Then there’s Untitled (Rainbow Wig), (2020), in which the subject makes eye contact with the viewer across another model – a moment interrupted. Elsewhere, works like Alton in Brooklyn II (2016) demonstrate Carter’s masterful command of light and movement, with water droplets and sequins glistening in the glow of golden hour. Tender Heart is a must-see this winter, showcasing some of the very best in contemporary portraiture whilst also platforming a wider message: the importance of representation on both sides of the camera. In 2023, Carter told Document Journal: “I don’t want to pigeonhole Blackness. Just the opposite, I want to expand it with the most enormous thundering exclamation possible.” This exhibition achieves precisely that.
Micaiah Carter – Tender Heart is at Amerikahaus, Munich, until 18 January.
Words: Eleanor Sutherland
Image Credits:
1. Ebony, (Fur Coat), (2015). © Photograph courtesy of Micaiah Carter and Sarah Hasted – International Art Advisory, New York.
2. Untitled (Rainbow Wig), (2020). © Photograph courtesy of Micaiah Carter and Sarah Hasted – International Art Advisory, New York.
3. Adeline in Barrettes, (2018). © Photograph courtesy of Micaiah Carter and Sarah Hasted – International Art Advisory, New York.
4. ThreeMen, (2018). © Photograph courtesy of Micaiah Carter and Sarah Hasted – International Art Advisory, New York.
5. Alton in Brooklyn II, (2016). © Photograph courtesy of Micaiah Carter and Sarah Hasted – International Art Advisory, New York.
6. Ebony, (Fur Coat), (2015). © Photograph courtesy of Micaiah Carter and Sarah Hasted – International Art Advisory, New York.
