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User:SybilSherri/sandbox/James M. Mannas, Jr.

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James (Jimmie) M. Mannas, Jr. (b. September 15, 1941) is an American photographer, film director, cinematographer and writer. He is recognized as one of the founding fifteen members of the Kamoinge Workshop (1963), which evolved from the union of two separate groups of African American photographers who were based in New York City. His extensive body of work can be explored as individual thematic series, covering the subjects of African American New York City street life; avant-garde jazz musicians (including Marzette Watts in his Cooper Square loft); dancers; portraits; landscapes; and post-colonial Guyana.

A key feature of Mannas’ work is the political subtext of his photos, which infuses his imagery with an unspoken commentary on the circumstances of life facing black communities -- whether in Harlem or Guyana. Mannas captured iconic times and places which serve to document specific cultural history. Pre-1980, the majority of his photographs were shot in black and white.


Early life and education

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Mannas was born in Newark, New Jersey. His family moved to New York City in 1943, settling in Harlem. He received a Kodak Brownie Hawkeye camera at the age of eleven, and soon realized that he had found his lifelong passion and profession. He graduated from the city’s High School of Commerce in 1958 and then enrolled in the New York Institute of Photography, where he received his degree in 1960. He went on to receive a degree in film editing from the School of Visual Arts in 1963. Due to the Federal Community Action Programs, part of the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, Mannas was able to jumpstart his early career while still pursuing his education. In 1969, Mannas received a certificate from New York University for studies in film and television.


Career

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Photography

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The photographs of Mannas are in the permanent collections of numerous institutions including: Museum of Modern Art; Studio Museum of Harlem; National Museum of African-American History and Culture; Virginia Museum of Fine Arts; Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture; New York Public Library. International institutions include the University of Mexico; the University of Ghana; the University of Dar es Salaam.

Kamoinge Workshop

In the beginning of the1960s, Mannas and other black photographers recognized the isolation of their efforts in a field that was dominated by white men. Mannas, together with Louis Draper, Albert Fennar, Ray Francis, Herman Howard, Earl James, Calvin Mercer, Herbert Randall, Larry Stewart, Shawn Walker and Calvin Wilson, founded the Kamoinge Workshop, through combining two pre-existing groups of black photographers. Draper wrote, “We saw ourselves as a group who were trying to nurture each other.”1

They were mentored by the established African American photographer, Roy DeCarava, who became the collective’s first director in 1963.2 It was at DeCarva’s Sixth Avenue and West 38th Street loft that most of the group’s meetings were held in the latter part of 1963.3

The Kamoinge Workshop remains the oldest collaborative group of photographers in the nation and is still operative today. The name was chosen from the language of the Kikuyu tribe of Kenya. The word means “a group of people acting together.” Combining the numbers and talent of their members, the collective was able to secure advertising work and gain entrance into museums, publications and commercial galleries -- previously inaccessible.

“The magazines wouldn’t support our work. So, we wanted to encourage each other,” co-founder Draper stated in an interview. As a unit, they were able to exhibit and sell their photographs depicting everyday African Americans at home, on the street, and in daily life. It was subject matter that mainstream Americans had previously not been exposed to. DeCarava told Photography Magazine in 1970 that Kamoinge was “an attempt to develop a conscious awareness of being black, in order to say things about ourselves as black people that only we could say.” Mannas presided over the Kamoinge Workshop as president from 1976 to 1977.

Mannas appears in “The Black Photographers Annual” Volume I and Volume 2. Published in 1973, Volume I showcases a woman’s portrait (p .49).4 It also features a Foreward by esteemed author Toni Morrison, who qualifies the suite of individual works as “some of the most powerful and poignant photography I have ever seen.” Morrison incisively writes, “It hovers over the matrix of black life, takes accurate aim and explodes our sensibilities.”

Volume 2, issued in 1974, includes an interview (pp. 68-71) with  P.H. Polk, the groundbreaking African American photographer, who was 74-years-old at the time. His ten-page portfolio of distinctive works, documenting an earlier era, precedes that of Mannas.5

Each artist has an introductory precis about their background. The one for Mannas is on the page opposite his well-known image, “Motown Lady,” taken at the Stabroek Market in Georgetown, Guyana (p. 83). The other four images, also from Guyana, capture both street scenes and interiors in velvety blacks. There is specific attention to the contrasts between a range of textured surfaces ¾ burlap material, a straw hat with ribbon, signage, and worn storefronts.

Music Series

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Mannas structured his exploration of photographic subjects into specific areas of focus. In his music series, he functioned as a fly on the wall, capturing the Free Jazz and Avant-garde movements of the 1960s. He observed cutting-edge musicians including Ornette Coleman, Albert Ayler, Pharoah Sanders, Sun Ra, Charles Mingus, Cecil Taylor and Marzette Watts as they pushed the improvisational boundaries of the genre.

Mannas became a part of this experimental music scene, which found its home under Bernard Stollman’s independent outsider label ESP-Disk. Mannas became a trusted member of Marzette Watt’s entourage, thus gaining unprecedented access to photograph both his professional and private life. His low angle torso shot of Watts is featured on the 1966 ESP album “Marzette Watts and Company: Backdrop for Urban Revolution.”


Mentors

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Mannas credits Roy DeCarava as being one of his earliest mentors. He has also pointed to New York University professor, James Beveridge for presenting a prototype for his later career development. Like Beveridge, Mannas formed his own production company, produced independent documentaries and television films, and acted as a consultant for a foreign government ministry. Another Mannas advisor was Robert Frank, a Swiss-American photographer and documentary filmmaker.


Teaching and Related Activities

Manna became the president of the International Black Photographers group from 1967 to 1969. As staff photographer and senior teacher in the photography department of the Bedford-Stuyvesant Youth in Action Community Corporation, he taught in that community between 1968 and 1969. Later, he was a photography instructor at Mind Builders in the Bronx, under founding director, Madaha Kinsey-Lamb from 1979 through 1981.


Film

Following the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. on April 4, 1968, Mannas took his camera to the street and documented the shock and anger felt in the Brooklyn neighborhood, Bedford Stuyvesant. His experimental film, King Is Dead, (1968) is a portrait of a community directly expressing their anger and pain, not only with the death of King, but with the abject realities for all black people throughout America. Mannas’ uses close-ups, cutaways and archival footage as key techniques in this black and white documentary.

Another film that Mannas shot while he was a student at New York University, was Kick (1969), an uncompromising look at the impact and effects of the heroin epidemic devastating Harlem.


Years Abroad and Return

Despite government programs, African Americans continued to be stymied in their efforts to gain access to viable career pathways in the United States. As the Civil Rights era transitioned into the Black Power era, African Americans began to link their struggle with similar liberation movements of black people around the world. In Africa and in the Caribbean, the leaders of newly independent nations reached out to African American professionals in varied fields, encouraging them to leave the United States and utilize their expertise in these new nations, where they would be appreciated and respected.

Mannas heeded the call and moved to Guyana, formerly British Guiana. There, he served as consultant to the Ministry of Information from the years of 1971-1974, under Forbes Burnham, the country’s first Prime Minister. The “Guyana Series,” a visual record of his time spent in the country, comprises an extensive body of his still photography oeuvre.

While in Guyana, Mannas became the managing director of Gillham Productions (1974-76). He wrote a screenplay adapted from a story by Frederick Hamley Case. The resulting film, “Aggro Seizeman” (1975) is considered Guyana’s first feature film. It was shot on 35mm, and was co-directed by Mannas and Brian Stuart-Young.

Upon his return to the United States in 1976, Mannas founded and ran his own film production company, New Image Media. The following year, he became a member of the Association of Video and Filmmakers.

Today, Mannas lives in Brooklyn, New York. In addition to overseeing the cataloging of his photographic output (over 15,000 images), he continues to create new work in black and white, as well as in color.

Mannas is included in the February 2020 Virginia Museum of Fine Arts exhibit, “Working Together: Louis Draper and the Kamoinge Workshop.” The show will travel to the Whitney Museum of American Art, where it will be on view from July through October of 2020.

References

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1 Berger, Maurice (January 7, 2016) “Kamoinge’s Half-Century of African American Photography.” Lens Blog. New York Times, Retrieved January 8, 2020.

2 Duganne, Erina. “Transcending the Fixity of Race: The Kamoinge Workshop and the Question of a ‘Black Aesthetic’ in Photography.” New Thoughts on the Black Arts Movement. New Jersey: Rutgers University Press. P.188. ISBN-13: 978-0-8135-3695-8. p. 188. Retrieved January 9, 2020.

3 Anthony Barboza & Herb Robinson, eds; Vincent Alabiso, co-editor. “Timeless: Photographs by Kamoinge.” Atglen, Pennsylvania: Schiffer Publishing, Ltd., 2015. ISBN: 978-0-7643-4974-4  p. 74. Retrieved January 10, 2020.

4 Crawford, Joe. Editor and Publisher. “The Black Photographers Annual, Volume 1.” Rochester, New York: Distributed by Light Impressions. 1973. Retrieved January 10, 2020.

5 Crawford, Joe. Editor and Publisher. “The Black Photographers Annual, Volume 2.” Rapoport Printing Corp. 1974. Retrieved January 13, 2020.

Permanent Collections

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·      Museum of Modern Art, New York, New York

·      Studio Museum of Harlem, Harlem, New York

·      National Museum of African-American History & Culture, Washington, D.C.

·      Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Virginia

·      Howard University, Washington, D.C.

·      Clarke Atlanta University, Atlanta, Georgia

·      New York Public Library, Schomburg Center, New York, New York

·      New York Public Library, Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, New York, New York

·      University of Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico

·      University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana

·      University of Dar es Salaam, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania


Selected Exhibitions

·      “Theme: Final Man,” Kamoinge Workshop, Glasgow Gallery, Harlem, New York. 1961 

·      “Theme: Black,” The Kamoinge Gallery, Harlem, New York. 1965

·       Group Show, Howard University, Washington, D.C. 1965

·      Group Show, Black Arts Repertory Theatre School, Detroit, Michigan. 1965

·      Group Show, University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana. 1966

·      “The Negro Woman,” The Kamoinge Gallery, Harlem, New York. 1966

·      “Perspective,” Countee Cullen Library Branch of the New York Public Library, New York, New York. 1966

·      Solo Exhibit, Brooklyn Children Museum, Brooklyn, New York. 1970

·      Group Show, Amherst College, Amherst, Massachusetts. 1971

·      “The Kamoinge Workshop,” The Studio Museum of Harlem, Harlem, New York. 1972

·      “The Kamoinge Workshop,” Harvard University Graduate School of Design, Cambridge, Massachusetts. 1973

·      “Black Photographers Annual Exhibit,” San Francisco Museum of Art, San Francisco, California. 1973

·      “Inaugural Exhibition,” International Center of Photography, New York, New York. 1974

·      “Kamoinge Workshop,” Countee Cullen Library Branch of the New York Public Library, New York, New York. 1994.

·      ''Subject Matters: Photography, Romana Javitz and the New York Public Library,'' New York Public Library Center for the Humanities, New York, New York. 1998

·     “Kamoinge Workshop.” Curated by Roy DeCarava. Nordstrom Department Stores. 2006

·      “The Kamoinge Workshop,” Kenkeleba Gallery, NYC, NY, 2016

·      “Working Together: Louis Draper and the Kamoinge Workshop,” Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Virginia. 2020

·      “Working Together: Louis Draper and the Kamoinge Workshop,” Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York. 2020


Filmography

·      King is Dead: (1968) Director. Documentary short filmed in New York City in April 1968, immediately after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWyEEOfMEp0

·      The Folks: (1968-1969) Director. Film series for NYU Graduate Program.

·      Kick: (1969) Director. Documentary short about the heroin epidemic in Harlem.

·      Naifa: (1970) Writer and Director. Animated film about Black nationalism.

·      Young People: (1972) Director of film series for Guyana’s Ministry of Information, Youth and Culture.

·      The Fighters: (1974) Cinematographer. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0162844/?ref_=nm_knf_t2

·      Aggro Seizeman: (1975) Co-director and co-screenwriter with Brian Stuart-Young. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072616/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

·      Head and Heart: (1977) Director and editor. Profile of African American illustrator Tom Feelings. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZfNk-_Oc5c

·      Black Veterans for Social Justice. William Greaves Production (1983) Cameraman

·      The Plight of Vietnam Black Vets: (1983) Director and cameraman.


Publications

  • Sarah Eckhardt. Working Together: Louis Draper and the Kamoinge Workshop. Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. Durham, North Carolina. Distributed by: Duke University Press, 2020. ISBN: 978-1-934351-17-8
  • Margaret M. O’Reilly, editor. Louis H. Draper: Selected Photographs. Essays by Gary Saretzky and Iris Schmeisser. Rochester, New York: Booksmart Studio, Inc. Mercerville, New Jersey: Mercer County Community College, 2019. ISBN: 978-1-939026-00-2
  • Jimmie Mannas. Guyana…Back Then: Guyana, South America. 1971-1976. Primedia E-Launch LLC, 2016. ISBN: 1944241175.
  • Sarah Lewis, editor. Vision & Justice: Aperture 223. New York: Aperture Foundation, 2016. ISBN: 9781597114103.
  • Anthony Barboza & Herb Robinson, eds; Vincent Alabiso, co-editor. Timeless: Photographs by Kamoinge. Atglen, Pennsylvania: Schiffer Publishing, Ltd., 2015. ISBN: 978-0-7643-4974-4.
  • Peter H. Rist. Historical Dictionary of South American Cinema. Lanham, Maryland: Rowan and Littlefield Publishers, 2014. p. 300. ISBN: 978-0810860827.
  • Erina Duganne. The Self in Black and White: Race and Subjectivity in Postwar American Photography. Lebanon, New Hampshire: Dartmouth College Press. Published by University Press of New England, 2010. ISBN: 1584658029.
  • Richard M. Juange and Noelle Morrissette, eds. Africa and the Americas: Culture, Politics and History. Volume 1. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO, Inc., 2008.  p. 478. ISBN: 978-1-85109-441-7.
  • Lisa Gail Collins and Margo Natalie Crawford, eds. New Thoughts on the Black Arts Movement. New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 2006. pp. 187-209. ISBN: 978-0-8135-3695-8.
  • Fritz Gysin and Christopher Mulvey, eds. Black Liberation in the Americas. New York: LIT Verlag, 2001. p. 225 and p. 237. ISBN: 9783825851378.
  • Halima Taha. Collecting African American Art: Work on Paper and Canvas. New York: Crown Publishers, 1998. ISBN: 0517705931
  • Deborah Willis-Thomas. An Illustrated Bio-Bibliography of Black Photographers 1940-1988. New York: Garland Publishing, 1989. ISBN: 0-8240-8389-X.
  • Joe Crawford, Editor and Publisher. The Black Photographers Annual, Volume 2. Rapoport Printing Corp., 1974. https://user-qpwbkti.cld.bz/bpaV2
  • Joe Crawford, Editor and Publisher. The Black Photographers Annual, Volume 1. Distributed by: Light Impressions. Rochester, N.Y. 1973. https://user-qpwbkti.cld.bz/bpa1973


Periodicals

·       Liberator. Watts, Daniel H. (editor in chief) “The Myth of Negro Progress.” (January 1964)

·       Liberator. Watts, Daniel H. (editor in chief) “Narcotics in The Ghetto.” (February 1964)

·       Liberator. Watts, Daniel H. (editor in chief) “War On The Poor.” (August 1965)

·       Camera Magazine. “Harlem.” Kamoinge Workshop. Editor: Allan Porter. (July 1966) Issue 7.

·       The Wall Street Journal. William Meyers. “Kamoinge Creativity, Shadows and Painted Portraits.” January 8, 2016.

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Categories

1941 births Living people African American photographer African American film director New York photographer 20th century American photographer

21st century American photographer Street photographer Jazz photographer African American cultural history Kamoinge co-founder Photographer of Guyana

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