Photographer, historian, and chronicler of Black life and culture, Anthony Barboza has spent more than five decades creating images that balance formal beauty with psychological depth. Born in New Bedford, Massachusetts, to Cape Verdean parents, Barboza began photographing as a teenager before moving to New York City in 1963, where he joined the Kamoinge Workshop, a groundbreaking collective of Black photographers founded to reclaim visual representation from the stereotypes of mainstream media. Mentored by Roy DeCarava, Barboza developed a highly personal style grounded in empathy, symbolism, and compositional rigor.

Barboza’s work encompasses portraiture, street photography, and conceptual series exploring Black identity, music, and spirituality. The portrait shown here exemplifies his intimate approach. The sitter’s inward gaze and folded pose, framed against a luminous ochre backdrop, create a sense of introspection and serenity. Barboza’s use of light and color transforms a simple setting into a meditative space, part photographic studio, part sanctuary.

Throughout his career, Barboza has photographed cultural icons such as Miles Davis, James Baldwin, Grace Jones, and Toni Morrison, while also portraying ordinary people with equal care and artistry. His celebrated series Black Borders(1973–79) combined images with handwritten reflections, giving his subjects voice and agency.

In addition to his artistic practice, Barboza has been an influential historian and advocate for the documentation of African American photographers. His 1982 book Black Photographers: 1840–1940 remains a landmark contribution to photographic history.

Selected Exhibitions

Kamoinge: A Collective Portrait, Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY, 1972

Anthony Barboza: Black Borders, Museum of the African Diaspora, San Francisco, CA, 2016

Working Together: The Photographers of the Kamoinge Workshop, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY, 2020–21

Anthony Barboza: Eye Dreaming, Keith de Lellis Gallery, New York, NY, 2022

Kamoinge Members, 1973, printed 2019, Anthony Barboza. Inkjet print. Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Eric and Jeanette Lipman Fund. © Anthony Barboza