When you think of a pastoral landscape depicted in art, who do you envision enjoying the scenery? Do they look like you? Who deserves to be featured in fine art? These are some of the questions that acclaimed artist Tyler Mitchell confronts in his exhibition “Idyllic Space” on display now at the High Museum of Art.
I recently had the pleasure of attending a media tour of the exhibit and hearing from Mitchell himself and Maria L. Kelly, Assistant Curator of Photography at the High. The exhibition features more than 30 photographs that grapple with the artist’s thoughts on masculinity, motherhood, domesticity, rest, and the natural world. The images capture not just a moment in time, but also feelings and emotions that transcend time and space.
Mitchell explained some of his inspiration behind the works, including the genre of Rococo, which is considered to be one of the most rebellious styles of art. Works in the Rococo style are often ornamental and theatrical combining asymmetry, gilding, and curving lines.
Mitchell reflected on his work within the context of art history; he said he was “[taking] these genres that were thought of as only being flowery, only being about beauty, and fusing them with socio-political concerns from growing up Black in this particular city.” Mitchell said he considers his work a bit of a call-and-response to art movements throughout history.
Inspired by the works of Kerry James Marshall, Carrie Mae Weems, and Shōji Ueda, Mitchell has refined a style of photography that is at once peaceful and poignant. His images offer a deeper understanding of his experiences growing up Black in the American South.
One piece in particular, “Georgia Hillside (Redlining)” is able to capture joy within the context of political and racial strife and inequity. The image portrays several groupings of individuals at rest and mid-play on a grassy hillside. Stretched throughout the scenes are red demarcations that he painted directly onto the grass, a very direct but also playful and visual reference to redlining.
Despite the heaviness of racial discrimination implied in the piece, you are met with families enjoying repose and leisure, and even a depiction of photography within his photograph. “It sort of prompts these questions about, again, who the landscape has been for in the past, and who the landscape is for now, in spite of historical context,” said Mitchell.
Mitchell’s process includes “loosely staged portrayals” wherein he enlists a group of people and brings them to a scene but doesn’t dictate exactly where everyone goes and what they do. He is particular with some details, such as the clothing his subjects wear, as they interplay with the scene to generate a sense of identity for those pictured in the works.
Walking through the galleries, Kelly led the group to an installation tucked within the overarching exhibition. In one defined space the walls were lined with a faux picket fence, the ground covered with turf, and bean bags spread throughout the space. A projection on the ceiling above is paired with dreamy, ephemeral music. Guests were invited to recline on the bean bags and watch the video play overhead, its location on the ceiling touching on Mitchell’s musings on cosmology, the study of the nature of the universe and the cosmos.
”The idea is that you are invited to rest, and take a moment to relax as you watch this very meditative slow video of young Black men who are just enjoying everyday life, having ice cream, swinging on swings, and thinking about what permissions are allowed to some people and not to others,” explained Kelly.
Beyond the video installation, the exhibition space features a structure akin to a gazebo that is plastered with formal portraits of 25 or so local Black families, many of whom Mitchell grew up alongside in the Jack and Jill Atlanta organization. Jack and Jill of America is a membership organization for mothers with children aged 2-19 that seeks to strengthen children through leadership development, volunteerism, and civic duties. Included on the gazebo structure is a portrait of the artist himself with his own family.
This portrayal of the family portrait, and the centering of Black families in particular in a fine art setting, ties in with Mitchell’s larger perspective of the importance of family. His photographs embrace a synchronous understanding of familial love, intimacy, and shared experiences.
During the tour, as we reached the final room of the exhibit, Mitchell explained the significance of homes and in particular living rooms in his works. He described living rooms as “the first public-private gallery,” a setting that encapsulates a family’s legacy and history throughout time.
“I was sort of working off of memories,” said Mitchell. In his portraiture work, Mitchell uses his extensive understanding of photography and art history to center Black familyhood, identity, and individuality as witnessed through a fine art lens.
Mitchell takes it one step further with the installation that occupies the walkway alongside the exhibition space adjacent to the atrium of the museum. Strung up above the heads of visitors are clotheslines draped in common, every-day fabrics like towels and pillowcases. Printed on the fabrics are some of Mitchell’s images, and on a nearby shelf are a selection of books that he finds particularly inspirational.
Now based in Brooklyn, New York, Mitchell was born and grew up in Marietta. As a freshman in high school, he purchased a Canon camera and began making skateboarding videos inspired by Spike Jonze and the like.
A prodigy from the start, he published his first book at the age of 20 after a six-week photography program in Havana, Cuba. He later attended the New York University Tisch School of the Arts where he focused on cinematography in film and television.
In his early twenties, Mitchell began working with big names including rapper Kevin Abstract and photographing protests for Teen Vogue. Mere months later at the age of 23 he photographed Beyoncé for Vogue, and became the first ever African American to do so. The following year, in 2019, one of his photographs was acquired by the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery. He has also worked with renowned designers and companies such as Marc Jacobs, Nike, Converse, Givenchy, and Loewe.
And now, it all comes full circle. “Idyllic Space” is a sort of homecoming for Mitchell, who grew up coming to the High Museum of Art and now has an entire exhibition of his stunning and compelling photographic works on its walls.
Want to see it for yourself? “Idyllic Space” will remain on view through December 1, 2024. Learn more about the exhibition here.