We are excited and proud to launch "PAREA PARASKEVI" (pronounced pah-REH-ah - pah-rah-skeh-VEE) [the latter being the Greek word for "Friday"]. The first Friday of every month, we will be showcasing groups of people that encompass what PAREA means to us. Collectives that embody the same principles in which our brand is built upon. Great or few in number, we want to show our appreciation for these people and their contributions by highlighting their work and what they accomplished by coming together "In Good Company".
For the first installment of "PAREA PARASKEVI", we point our spotlight upon the incomparable Kamoinge Workshop. The group of fourteen New York City photographers formed in 1963 to document the uproar and movement of black culture 1960's and 1970's. Based in Harlem, the collective shot everything from live jazz shows of Miles Davis, motivational speeches by Malcolm X, antiwar protests, and the civil rights movement.
The ensemble's name comes from the language of the Kikuyu people of Kenya, meaning "a group of people working together" (very reflective of our PAREA tagline). Their main objective and purpose was to show the true light of black culture in a positive light, a complete contrast to what the American media was delivering to it's viewers.
The decades in which the Kamoinge operated within provided them with nothing short of endless content and subjects to capture. The contrast of the images they shot can easily take an observer through a wave of perceptions. While some in the group like Anthony Barboza focused his lens on up-close and personal portraits of black New Yorkers, and the stories their faces conveyed, other members like Louis Draper (a Richmond, VA native) captured live action shots of John Coltrane and Malcolm X, as well as very telling landscape images of his New York City surroundings. Though sometimes diverse in style, the Kamoinge Workshop were always alike in their goals and purpose of their portfolio; to shine a spotlight upon black culture, with all of it's beauty, passion, and love.
The fourteen photographers of the Kamoinge will forever be a true testimony of what PAREA means, and how to keep it's values alive for generations to come.
(PAREA does not claim ownership of any images unless otherwise stated)
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