: : ? 31 Black Chronicles IV is a landmark exhibition that comprises a collection of photographs rediscovered in the Hulton archive – a division of Getty Images – after 125 years. These photographs include some of the earliest visual representations of black presence in Britain, photographed in commercial photographic studios in the 19th century. Taken during a time when the representation of disenfranchised groups was determined by colonial powers, the photographic archives exhibited in Black Chronicles IV reveal the complex ways in which those living within these oppressive confines sought ways to represent themselves through the new medium of photography. Curated by Renée Mussai (Co-director, Senior Curator and Head of Archive and Research at the London-based organisation Autograph ABP), Black Chronicles IV will be co-hosted by Autograph ABP and the Visual Identities in Art and Design Research Centre (VIAD), University of Johannesburg. The exhibition will take place at the FADA Gallery, Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture, University of Johannesburg. While previous iterations of Black Chronicles have been staged at such prestigious institutions as Ethelbert Cooper Gallery for African and African American Art (2015, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts); the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art (2016, Atlanta, Georgia) and the National Portrait Gallery (2016, London), Black Chronicles IV marks the first exhibition of the series on the African continent. In addition, Black Chronicles IV features the sound-image installation, titled African Choir 1891 Reimagined and for the first time, a selection of photographs from the 1900 Paris Exposition titled American Negro, compiled by pioneering African American intellectual W.E.B. DuBois. These images offer additional perspectives on “black presences” in the United States during the Victorian Era. Many of the British photographs within Black Chronicles IV were taken shortly after photography became commercially available in the 1840s. A revealing aspect of these images is their elucidation of the colonial British Empire, which was at that time, a growing, expansive system of power and governance. During the 1800s, as Britain’s influence spread further across the globe, individuals from colonised nations in Africa and India began their journeys to London – the centre of the Empire. In an interview with The Evening Standard in 2016, Mussai is mindful to note that black individuals have been part of British society well before these photographs were taken: We know that black people have been in [Britain] for hundreds and hundreds of years, a history that can be traced back all the way to the Roman Empire. The objective is to gently disrupt this national narrative that is often dominated by the arrival of the Empire Windrush, and look into the archive, extract and release images in order to build a different image. Through a limited historical view, Britain became what may be called a “multi-cultural society” after the landing of a ship named The Windrush in 1948, shortly after the end of the World War II. The ship carried 500 passengers from the Caribbean (then known as the West Indies) to London, where they were encouraged to find work and assist with Britain’s labour shortage. The photographs within Black Chronicles IV reveal a far more complex perspective, offering a small window into the lives led by some of the earliest photographed black migrants and travellers, some of whom were entertainers, sports people, dignitaries, and individuals that held “service” roles in Victorian Britain. The African Choir 1891 Reimagined installation offers an exceptional record of the presence of A HULTON ARCHIVE TREASURE BLACK CRONICLES IV continued >>