Stephen Shames:
Comrade Sisters / Women of the Black Panther Party

28.06 – 6.10.2024

Opening 27.06 – 19:00

Curators: François Cheval and Yasmine Chemali

Stephen Shames was twenty years old when, as a student at Berkeley, he came into contact with the beginnings of what would later become the Black Panther Party. From that moment onwards, he followed the history of this movement for emancipation within the Civil Rights movement until its dissolution. Benefitting from the friendship of the principle leaders, in particular Bobby Seale and Huey Newton, the photographer could report freely on all the forms of a political organisation that wanted to be involved in every aspect of the African-American community, from food aid to education, health to security. A relatively unknown aspect of the Black Panther Party, which these photographs bring to light, is the place occupied by activists within the organisation. Women, some of whom would go on to achieve certain notoriety (Gloria Abernethy, Evon Carter, Kathleen Cleaver, Angela Davis, Ericka Huggins, Adrienne Humphrey), were on the front line of every struggle. They were the ones who set up free breakfasts for schoolchildren, medical clinics and schools, distributed the media and so forth. Of all ages and walks of life, they represented two-thirds of the organisation’s activists. As speakers and organisers, these activists were committed to redefining the role of women within the organisation itself! This lends an original dimension to the story, providing it with a distinctive resonance.

Biography

Born in 1947 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, Stephen Shames was a student at the University of Berkeley in California when, at the age of 20, he met Bobby Seale, founder of the Black Panther Party, during an anti-Vietnam War protest in San Francisco. As the party’s privileged photographer, he became its main chronicler for seven years, from 1967 to 1973. Feeling more like an activist than a mere bystander, he decided to make photography a form of political engagement and the Black Panthers’ struggle his primary battleground. As a photojournalist, Stephen Shames captured life on the streets of the Bronx, particularly focusing on youth (‘Bronx Boys’, 1970-1980).

Known for his documentary and socially conscious work, he delved into issues of social misery and poverty, particularly that of children, a subject on which he testified before the United States Senate in 1986. In his own words, his approach is ‘to give a voice to those who are denied it’, without staging or resorting to pathos. In particular, he addresses child poverty and racial or prison issues to draw attention to social problems in the United States, much like photographers Lewis Hine, Jacob Riis, or Marion Post Wolcott did before him.

Stephen Shames has received numerous awards for his work, and his prints are in the largest public collections, including the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA, New York), Metropolitan Museum (New York), Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery (Washington, DC), George Eastman Museum (Rochester, NY), International Center of Photography (New York), Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture (Washington, DC), San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, The New York Public Library, The Bancroft Library (Berkeley), University of California (Berkeley), The Corcoran Gallery of Art (Washington, DC), The Museum of Photographic Arts San Diego, The Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Philadelphia Museum of Art, National Civil Rights Museum (Memphis, TN), Oakland Museum of California, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture (New York). He has authored over ten monographs, including Power to the People: The World of the Black Panthers by Stephen Shames and Bobby Seale (Abrams Books, 2016) and The Black Panthers (Aperture, 2006).

This exhibition takes part of the Rencontres d’Arles program as part of the Grand Arles Express manifestation.

 

 

 

© Stephen Shames
Earlene Coleman préparant les sacs de provisions
à distribuer au Laney College,
mars 1972,
Oakland, Californie.

© Stephen Shames
Kathleen Cleaver au rassemblement « Free Huey »,
28 juillet 1968,
Oakland, Californie.

© Stephen Shames
1973,
Oakland, Californie.

© Stephen Shames
Angela Davis lors d’un rassemblement
« Free Huey » au DeFremery Park
12 novembre 1969,
Oakland, Californie.

© Stephen Shames
Michelle, fille d’Evon Carter
1971, Oakland, Californie.

Public program

Conversation
with Stephen Shames,
photographer
Ericka Huggins,
activist and former leader
in the Black Panther Party

Saturday 29.06
17:00
In English
Free admission

Informations and booking
at
+33 (0)4 22 21 52 12
or
+33 (0)4 22 21 52 14

sbostanci@villedemougins.com
eprestini@villedemougins.com
centrephotographie@villedemougins.com

Family tour
Storytelling
The team at the Centre
of Photography are offering
an original format for family
visits to the exhibitions.

Saturdays
6.07,
3.08
11:00 → 11:30

Wednesdays
17.07,
14.08
16:00 → 16:30

Sundays
1st.09,
6.10
16:00 → 16:30

Free admission on the 1st
Sunday of the month.

Screening
The Black Panthers:
Vanguard of the Revolution
by Stanley Nelson
(USA, 2015, 115’, VOSTFR)

Saturday 7.09
19:00
Free admission

European Heritage Days
Free admission

Storytelling tour
Duration: 30 min
Ages 4 and up
Subject to availability.
Saturday 21.09 – 11:00
Sunday 22.09 – 15:00

Guided tour
Duration: 45 minutes
Subject to availability.
Saturday 21.09 – 15:00
Sunday 22.09 – 11:00

Discussion
Défricheuses, Féminismes,
caméra au poing et archive
en bandoulière
with Nicole Fernández Ferrer,
(Centre audiovisuel
Simone de Beauvoir)
and Nataša Petrešin-Bachelez,
(Cité internationale
des arts)

Saturday 28.09
18:30 → 20:00
In French
Free admission

Cahiers #8

Comrade Sisters : Women
of the Black Panther Party
Stephen Shames
+
Au-delà des apparences
Bayeté Ross Smith
Authors: Yasmine Chemali, François Cheval
Paul David Henderson, Ericka Huggins

ISBN: 979-10-90698-57-4
Publishing: June 2024
Bilingual French/English
Translation: Jennetta Petch
192 pages
29€

Cahiers #8 of the Mougins Center of Photography takes a historical look at the Black Panther Party movement and its assistance programmes, with photographs by Stephen Shames. The series by the artist Bayeté Ross Smith also examines the representation of the African-American community. Texts by activist Ericka Huggins and lawyer Paul David Henderson echo contemporary history.

On sale in the Mougins Center of Photography store.

Past Exhibitions

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