Ming Smith

Ming Smith has been photographing since childhood, creating images that explore movement, light, rhythm, and shadow. After graduating from Howard University in the 1970s, she joined the community of Black artists in Harlem. She became the first Black woman photographer to have work acquired by The Museum of Modern Art in New York. Known for her black-and-white street photography and portraits of key figures in Black culture, her meticulous process includes in-camera and post-production techniques such as slow shutter speeds, collage, and hand-painting on prints. Her work is in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art and The Brooklyn Museum in New York, the African American Museum in Philadelphia, and the Detroit Institute of Arts. Smith lives in New York.