User:Afosorno/Tyler Mitchell (photographer)

Tyler Mitchell (born April 12, 1995) is an American photographer and filmmaker. He is based in Brooklyn, New York and is best known for his cover photo of Beyoncé for the cover of Vogue. He is an African American artist who self identifies as someone who is looking to create a documentation of blackness and its beauty.

Early life
Mitchell grew up in Marietta, Georgia. In ninth grade, he purchased a Canon camera and taught himself how to make skateboarding videos. He was inspired by Spike Jonze to learn how to make videos and taught himself how to edit through youtube tutorials.

In 2015, Mitchell created and published his first book at the age of 20 after visiting Havana, Cuba on a six-week photography program. While he was there he documented skateboarding life and the architecture in Havana and turned it into a 108 page book called "El Paquete".

He went on to attend New York University Tisch School of the Arts and graduated in 2017. While at Tisch, he studied with Deborah Willis.

Career
Before photographing Beyoncé for the cover of American Vogue's September 2018 issue at the age of 23, he got a lot of experience making and editing short films at home and also shot music videos for rapper Kevin Abstract during his freshman year of college Additionally, before the Vogue cover, Mitchell worked with Teen Vogue to document and photograph teen gun reform activists for the magazine's digital issue. A couple months later when Mitchell shot for the cover of Vogue, he became the first African-American to photograph for the cover and also one of the youngest photographers to do so ever. In 2019, the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery acquired one of the portraits of Beyoncé by Mitchell for their permanent collection.

Mitchell has also shot for companies like Marc Jacobs, Converse, Nike, and Givenchy. His work includes fashion photography, artistic photography, and film projects, which include autobiographical topics and themes of identity.

In 2019, Mitchell had his first solo exhibition at the Foam Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam from April 19 to June 5th called I Can Make You Feel Good which included video works, photographs, and installations. Due to it's success, the exhibition traveled to the International Center of Photography in New York and will be shown there until May of 2020.

In addition to his work as a photographer, Mitchell has also done guest lectures at institutions such as Harvard and the International Center of Photography where he is currently exhibiting his work.

Exhibitions

 * I’m Doing Pretty Hood in My Pink Polo, Red Hook Labs Gallery and Aperture Gallery, 2018
 * Labs New Artists II (group exhibition), Red Hook Labs Gallery, Brooklyn, New York, June 2018
 * The Way We Live Now (group exhibition), Aperture Foundation, New York City June – August 2018
 * I Can Make You Feel Good, Foam Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam, April–June 2019
 * I Can Make You Feel Good, International Center of Photography, Jan 2020 – May 2020

Awards

 * Forbes 30 under 30 - Art & Style 2019
 * British Fashion Council - New Wave Creative
 * Dazed Digital - Dazed 100 2016