“We call it photography, but it was art.”

Woman walking above, New York, 1950. (c) The Estate of Roy DeCarava. All rights reserved.

Many thanks to Fayemi Shakur for her insightful piece in The New York Times about Roy’s work in general and the importance of The Sweet Flypaper of Life.

Mr. DeCarava did not create politicized social documentary photographs that were literal. Instead, he layered his social and psychological material with an emotional depth that aimed for a wider audience and deeper message. “We call it photography, but it was art,” said his wife, Sherry Turner DeCarava, an art historian and the director of the DeCarava Archives. “Roy had an incredible way of organizing his pictures in his mind in response to qualities that we consider beautiful.”

Have you read it yet? You’ll find it here: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/23/lens/illuminating-black-joy-black-love-and-resistance-in-harlem.html