Ming Smith’s Moment
A December story from the web- site Artnet focused on the artists currently dominating US muse- ums. At the top of the list is Co- lumbus-raised Ming Smith, the first Black woman photographer to have her work added to the col- lection of New York’s Museum of Modern Art. Smith is also singled out by Artnet for having the most solo exhibitions on view of any artist in the country.
That concentration is due largely to a collaboration between three central Ohio institutions to spotlight several facets of the artist’s illustrious career: Columbus Museum of Art, The Gund at Kenyon College, and the Wexner Center for the Arts at The Ohio State University. The partnership has also gar-
nered attention from publications includ- ing The New York Times and Art in Amer- ica. “The simultaneous presentations of Ming Smith’s work came from conversations I was having with Ming in the fall of 2021, so it’s been in the making for over three years,” according to Kelly Kivland, cu- rator of Ming Smith: Wind Chime at the Wexner Center. “I’m just extraordinarily happy that Ming is not only able to see all these bodies of work on view at once, but that audiences here in central Ohio will for the first time as well.” Collectively, the venues reveal the beau- ty, movement, and spirituality found in Smith’s work, and how she went from chronicling her early life in Columbus to traveling the world exploring street pho- tography and different techniques such as double exposure.
Gifted a camera as a pre-teen by her
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