Shaping Culture One Portrait at a Time: Simon Frederick

For the past two decades, photographer and filmmaker Simon Frederick has examined Black life through portraiture, creating a body of work that highlights extraordinary range in heritage, accomplishment, and outlook. This first monograph brings together photographs from four pivotal series—Black is the New Black, They’ve Gotta Have Us, The Outsiders? and the Stephen Lawrence series—including exclusive, never-before-published images and interview excerpts that broaden the scope of his already influential projects. Created during sessions with actors, artists, politicians, musicians, creatives, and sportspeople from the United States, the United Kingdom, and beyond, these portraits reveal the nuance of self-presentation and the precision of Frederick’s visual language. Sitters such as Whoopi Goldberg, Diahann Carroll, Harry Belafonte, Naomi Campbell, David Oyelowo, Laurence Fishburne, Ruth E. Carter, and others appear with a level of focus that underscores his disciplined sense of framing and composition. Brief texts drawn from Frederick’s interviews offer an entertaining and candid look at personal histories, pressures, ambition, and public visibility. With a foreword by Ekow Eshun and an introduction by Frederick tracing the evolution of his method, this volume delivers a commanding visual statement and a compelling chorus of voices, affirming Frederick’s place as a vital force in portrait photography today.