Photographer Tyler Mitchell on black freedom

Life and Art from FT Weekend

Forhecz Topher

Tv & Film, Arts, Society & Culture

4.6 • 601 Ratings

🗓️ 16 June 2020

⏱️ 62 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The world has changed. In the midst of the Black Lives Matter movement, Gris speaks to Tyler Mitchell, a 25-year-old photographer, filmmaker and political artist who shot to fame when he photographed Beyonce for the September issue of American Vogue in 2018. In his work, Tyler explores what freedom means for black Americans, and all the ways in which it is denied. Gris first spoke to Tyler in early May - three weeks before police killed George Floyd - and they talked again just before this episode was published.

This is our finale for Season Two! Thank you for an incredible run. Gris is about to go on maternity leave, but Lilah will be back for Season Three in a few months’ time. In the meantime, you can still always find us talking about culture on Twitter @FTCultureCall or on Instagram at @lilahrap and @griseldamurraybrown, and you can email us at [email protected].

Links and notes from the episode:

–Here is our massive list of listener recommendations for what to watch on streaming platforms. Thanks to all who shared their thoughts! There’s no paywall on this, so you can share it freely: https://www.ft.com/content/87f1f7fe-af30-11ea-a4b6-31f1eedf762e

–If you want free access to explore FT journalism for 30 days, sign up to the Coronavirus Business Update newsletter using this special link: https://www.ft.com/newsletter-signup/coronavirus?segmentId=0d92d58c-2c7d-178e-6aa8-81529dd53b1b

–White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo (You can also listen to an interview with Robin here: https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/come-through/articles/5-robin-diangelo)

– Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge

–The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

–I May Destroy You by Michaela Coel (BBC iPlayer and HBO)

–Here’s an excellent recent episode of our sister podcast, Behind the Money, on the history of police funding in America: https://www.ft.com/content/a6d56dd2-fd2c-4047-a502-c6c6d9dc3f90

–Tyler Mitchell on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tylersphotos

–Tyler’s new photo book I Can Make You Feel Good, published by Prestel on July 28: https://prestelpublishing.randomhouse.de/book/I-Can-Make-You-Feel-Good/Tyler-Mitchell/Prestel/e563080.rhd

–Inside Tyler’s exhibition I Can Make You Feel Good: https://www.anothermag.com/art-photography/12200/tyler-mitchell-photographer-i-can-make-you-feel-good-exhibition-new-york-2020

–Photographers who Tyler Mitchell cites as inspirations: Ryan McGinley, Larry Clark, and Petra Collins (who he calls ‘the first internet phenomenon photographer on some level’)

–Jeremy O Harris’s tweets on...

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, you're listening to Culture Call, a transatlantic conversation from the Financial Times.
0:10.8	I'm Griselda Murray Brown in London.
0:13.9	And I'm Lila Raptopoulos in New York.
0:16.8	Coming up on today's episode.
0:20.2	I'm sure there's people around the world who are watching these protests and destruction
0:23.6	of old southern or white power structure symbols, and they're just waiting for it to be over
0:29.6	so that they can go get a hair cut, just waiting to return back to a sense of normal.
0:33.6	And that is what this moment is really about. There truly will be no return to normal.
0:39.0	So many people weren't feeling normal.
0:41.0	There wasn't a normal in the first place.
0:50.3	This is our final episode of the season, and we have a really special guest for you.
0:55.2	He's someone who I think speaks directly to this moment of reckoning that we're having with regards to racism and especially black lives.
1:02.8	Yes, we are grateful to end our season with the brilliant Tyler Mitchell.
1:06.9	Tyler is a 25-year-old black American photographer.
1:10.4	He's best known for photographing Beyonce
1:12.3	for the September cover of American Vogue in 2018. And he's also worked with some of the biggest
1:17.5	fashion brands. But really, he's more than a fashion photographer. And it's kind of impossible
1:22.6	to give him a label like that because really he's a political artist and his work is about black freedom
1:29.9	and the ways in which black freedom has been denied. And his work and the way he speaks about his
1:36.0	work is really a valuable lens to see this moment through, especially as the Black Lives Matter
1:40.5	movement continues to grow.
1:52.5	Before we listen to my conversation with Tyler, Lila, I feel like we should take a moment just to think about what's been happening since our last episode and kind of talk it through a bit.
	...

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