Education:
Parsons School of Design, M.F.A. in Photography and Related Media, 2019
Brooks Institute of Photography, B.F.A. in Professional Photography, 2017
North Carolina Central University, B.A. in English Literature, 2002
New York, Los Angeles and North Carolina based photographer Adrian White creates portraiture primarily dealing with memory, trauma and history from the perspective of people of the African diaspora. His goal is to connect with his ancestors by remembering the past, documenting the present and imagining a utopian future.
White was born and raised in the small tobacco and cotton town of Stantonsburg, NC. He studied at North Carolina Central University in Durham, NC (BA, 2002), Brooks Institute of Photography (BFA 2014) and his MFA in photography, video and other related media from Parsons School of Design.
“My photographic process places as much an emphasis on preserving memories as it does creating images. Memories have the power to heal. We just have to pay attention to what they’re trying to tell us.”
Artist Statement: Grappling with its false allure of truth, I document the African diaspora in an effort to connect with my ancestors. Photography is a malleable medium, shaping the world through lenses and biases. History is manipulated, reconfigured to fit agendas. Their systematic extermination has been erased from history and silenced in classrooms. I remember them, I connect with them - so that we can begin to heal. I document the present. I remember the past. I imagine a utopian future. By connecting with my ancestors, I learn about myself.
It is in the remembering that I believe that we can begin to heal.
As evidence of how, when and where black bodies existed is erased.
The remnants persist.
My visibility is my weapon.
My ancestors have scars and like the family photographs that I study and create those scars tell a story. Both love and loss exist in family photographs. That love and those scars are the reason I create my art. It’s this push and pull that I explore.
Residencies
Vortex 2019, Marseille, France
Selected Exhibitions:
Photoville 2017, Brooklyn NY
Photoville 2018, Brooklyn, NY
Pingyao Photo Festival 2018, Pingyao, China
Cit.i.zen.ship: Reflections on Rights 2018, NYU Manhattan, NY
Veteran Art Exhibition 2018, San Francisco, CA
Convergence 2018, Manhattan, NY Aronson Gallery
Studio Vortex, 2019, Arles, France
Being Bare, 2019, Manhattan, NY
For Closets: Reimaging Identities While Embracing Memories 2019, NYU Manhattan, NY
Resight, 2020 Houston, TX
Protest in Place 2020, Los Angeles, South LA Contemporary
Pickled Memories 2020, Los Angeles, South LA Contemporary
The Roof is on Fire 2021, Artsy and SF CameraWork
Selected Publications
PSD, 2018, Manhattan, NY
Convergence, 2018, Manhattan, NY
Pingyao Photo Festival, 2018, Pingyao, China
PSD (Editor-in-chief), 2019, Manhattan, NY
Oxford American, 2020
Soft Lightning, 2020
Member to the Following Organization:
Society for Photographic Education, 2018
Alumni Association of Brooks Institute, 2017
Alumni Association of Parsons School of Design, 2019
Artist Talks
New York University, 2018
Parsons School of Design, 2019
California Baptist University, 2019
SPE Houston 2020
SF Camera Work 2021
Click Photo Fest 2021