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Micaiah Carter on Family, Identity and Longing to Belong
As a force for change, Carter is part of a creative juggernaut that has openly worked to create a more inclusive space for Black people through his work, and his latest photo book is a case in point: titled Micaiah Carter: What’s My Name, it’s a visual anthology that covers over ten years of Carter’s career, drawing his personal and professional trajectory with found family albums photographed by his parents.
Guided by a near-to-real obsession over chronology, Carter carves a path that steps in and out of time, depicting the moments of Black life that characterize his ancestry, past and present. “They have their own power,” he says, “but this book is about uplifting their potential and shining a light on them. I think this process inspired me to do such work because a lot of my family and friends inspired me to shoot photos when we were together, and what I found interesting was that these subjects wouldn’t necessarily be represented in contexts like that of fashion.”
With a deliciously bottomless reservoir of ideas, he speaks unabashedly when translating his experience as a Black man into his photographic practice. “I believe it’s something that I had to learn,” he says, “because growing up there wasn’t a space for me to see people who could have helped in understanding what the color of my skin meant behind the camera. It wasn’t right before I went to New York that I was speaking to a friend who asked: ‘Do you realize you’re a black photographer and how much power that has, for the simple fact that there’s not many out there who speak volumes on representation and have a platform?’ At the end of the day, I feel like I’m just myself and I try to use as many influences from my own childhood and family in my own history and bloodline to create what I’m creating today.”
Grounded in the knowledge of identity and selfhood, the book chronicles a tapestry of photographs that punctuate a through-line between different moments in Carter’s journey, navigating through the 1970’s fashion and palette captured in his mother and father’s snapshots. In one spread, a snapshot of a boy cloaked in a bright yellow barber’s cape poised as a woman shaves his hair—shot for Baby Boy, a collaboration between Carhartt & Manual NYC—is paired with a polaroid from 1982 of a youth sports team, boys huddled around their coach dressed in yellow jerseys and striped knee-high socks.
In another, a wealth of school portraits taken between 1965 and 1972 is juxtaposed with a photograph of the back of a woman’s head—her hair ornamented with multicolored berets in the shape of butterflies, horses, and bows. With Carter as their connection, these images spark a dialogue across time, lives, and communities, celebrating the great dimension of black identity in America through the medium of photography.
Truth be told, the portrayal of Blackness has been weaponized by the Western (read: white) gaze for centuries, and it seems like we’re only starting to detoxify the myths around Black people — by way of empowering their truest essence — in recent times. However, at any rate, Carter does not stray from the honest messages he wants to convey through this body of work.
“The main point I want people to take away from this book is inspiration!” he freely admits, with no signs of peacocking braggadocio on display. “I think the photos in the book strongly range from people that no one will really know if you don’t look into the index, to others that are world-renowned; and personally, I think all of the captured subjects are part of a phenomenal scope of Blackness, because America is linked to the ideal that it takes a lot to dream. But when I think about what the country has done to Black individuals over the last century since they got here, I hope this book acts as a tool that doesn’t stop one from dreaming of having the same opportunity and visibility as the rest of society.”
And just like Carter, who by the end of our conversation matured a tone from softly-spoken to downright powerful, I very much hope the same.
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Beautiful Harlem, Uninterrupted
I want to hear a little more about the process of your book. What birthed the concept?
I was promoting a scene called “Dos Dos” that I worked on with my friend Joey in Mexico. Then I met Emilie and gave her a copy and invited her to the show. She was living in New York and we became friends. One day, she came to me with the idea of a photography book and so we started the project in 2019, before the pandemic.
What made you choose Harlem?
There’s a lot of beauty in Harlem. I lived there for a long time. It’s a neighborhood that's constantly changing. While living there I was photographing everywhere I went, even coming in and out of Harlem. There’s some photos in the book of the train which emphasize the changing beauty of everyday life.
That’s so interesting. Tell me more about “changing beauty.”
Well, subway cars are constantly changing. Who knows? Maybe in ten years, we’re not going to have these cars anymore because they’re getting modernized and more sophisticated. So I wanted to capture that.
There’s a lot of beauty in Harlem. I lived there for a long time. It’s a neighborhood that's constantly changing.
Describe Harlem in one word.
Blue.
That leads to my next question. Why “Strong Blue?”
It all leads back to my grandmother. When I was a kid that was the word she used for jeans. So whenever she wanted me to wear jeans she would reference them as “strong blue” in Spanish. Naturally, blue became my favorite color.
How did you come up with the title, “Beauty Beauty?”
At first, we thought of naming the book “Harlan Days” but then we looked at some of the photos and focused on one in particular. It’s sort of blurry and there’s a lady there with the most beautiful eyes that I always see in the same spot, reading. I’m not sure if she’s homeless. But for some reason, there’s this sign behind her that says “Beauty Beauty,” and I liked how the blurry quality fit with the doubled nature. It worked with the idea of seeing beauty in things that are not necessarily beautiful.
It all leads back to my grandmother. When I was a kid that was the word she used for jeans. So whenever she wanted me to wear jeans she would reference them as 'strong blue' in Spanish. Naturally, blue became my favorite color.
How would you define beauty?
Beauty is different to everyone, right? For me, it’s something with a unique color and texture. For example, today I was walking and noticed this rich, red tomato on the ground. It was broken. There was also an empty box of McDonalds right next to it. I took a picture of it and it all worked together. Tomato… ketchup… french fries. Beauty is sort of like music in your brain, like matching things together to produce a rhythm of things happening.
I like how you described beauty as rhythmatic. I’m curious about the photo of someone holding up a toy doll and a beer. Explain that rhythm.
I was coming out of the hospital with my camera and then all of a sudden I saw two people drinking a really cheap beer and playing with dolls. You can see the finger of the other person there. I was very curious about what was going on, myself. They were kind of like big kids drinking and I snapped their photo.
Do you ask people for permission before you take their photos?
I usually get close up to get a read first. Sometimes I introduce myself first but it’s like a combination of talking and taking photos at the same time. It’s a skill that you develop as you go. Some people look back, some people don’t say anything. I actually know someone who took a photo of a lady once and she hit her. You never know what to expect. But in my opinion, it’s better to ask for forgiveness than for permission.
Cooper Radio Collective Makes Way for Interdisciplinary Community
School of Art student Camille Levy first started thinking about some sort of interdisciplinary home for music, sound, and listening at Cooper in the fall of 2022. In those early months, CRC founder Levy felt a need for both a creative platform and a community hub as the school emerged from its pandemic isolation. The Cooper Radio Collective was the answer.
With support from faculty Lucy Raven and Zach Poff, and partnership with Cooper student Julia Kim, who created the CRC website, Levy began a campaign for funding and a space for its operations. After receiving financial support from the Student Affairs Office, Levy, Kim, alongside School of Art collaborators Keegan Bonds-Harmon and Oscar Mooney began conceptualizing the mechanics of the collective and its place in the school community. The Collective began broadcasting in the Spring of 2023.
Featuring 25 to 30 hosts per semester, the radio broadcasts live from radio.cooper.edu each weeknight from 6pm to 12am. Students and faculty from all three schools (Art, Architecture, and Engineering) host hour-long shows from a comforting, dimly lit room in one of the school's administrative offices, fostering what might be Cooper’s only truly interdisciplinary space.
Shows with titles from ‘Pluviophile’ (with Magik Malik on Mondays at 9pm), ‘Weather Report’ (with Anika on Wednesdays at 6pm) and ‘Warm, Luke’ (on Fridays at 6pm) provide auditory experiences including live instrumentation, dialogue, reading, spinning, vintage vinyl, mixtapes, and original tracks.
This fall, the program entered its first full year of broadcasting with newfound momentum and a full roster of DJs. To kick off the season, the collective hosted its first live event, “CRC Circus,”— in early October at the Sixth Street Community Center featuring five performances bands and artists within the Cooper community. The event also featured gourmet sandwiches for sale by student Cinco Walter Hawkins’s eponymous ‘Cinco’s Sandwich Shop.’ In the weeks since, Cooper Radio Collective has remained live each night, broadcasting exceptional audio and working towards a collective vision of the school as united, empathetic, and dedicated to collaboration.
