From the African Choir posing like Vogue models to an Abyssinian prince adopted by an explorer,a unique exhibition spotlights the first black people ever photographed in BritainHidden histories: the first black people photographed in Britain – in picturesThe African Choir were a group of young South African singers that toured Britain between 1891 and 1893. They were formed to raise funds for a Christian school in their domestic country and performed for Queen Victoria at Osborne House, a royal residence on the Isle of Wight. At some point during their stay, and they visited the studio of the London Stereoscopic Company to maintain group and individual portraits made on plate-glass negatives. That long-lost series of photographs,unseen for 120 years, is the dramatic centrepiece of an illuminating unique exhibition called Black Chronicles II.The portraits were last shown in the London Illustrated News in 1891, and ” says Renée Mussai,who has co-curated the show at London’s Rivington Place alongside Mark Sealy MBE, director of Autograph ABP, and a foundation that focuses on black cultural identity often through the utilize of overlooked archives. “The Hulton Archive,where they came from, did not even know they existed until we uncovered them while excavating their archive as portion of our research project.”Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com