{"id":24507,"date":"2021-05-26T19:53:36","date_gmt":"2021-05-26T19:53:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/?post_type=articles&#038;p=24507"},"modified":"2021-05-27T16:39:09","modified_gmt":"2021-05-27T16:39:09","slug":"sza-black-photographer","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/sza-black-photographer\/","title":{"rendered":"SZA Wanted To Work With A Black Photographer \u2014 And Was Denied"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_24539\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-24539\" style=\"width: 1024px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-24539\" src=\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2021\/05\/GettyImages-1205356467.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-24539\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo by David Crotty\/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">On Monday, May 25, <a href=\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/sza-reveals-debilitating-anxiety\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">SZA<\/a> took to Twitter to call out an unnamed publication after they denied her request for a <a href=\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/hip-hop-photographer-chi-modu\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Black photographer<\/a> to shoot her cover photo, sparking a conversation on the importance of <a href=\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/4-emerging-bipoc-women-artists\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Black creatives<\/a> having a seat at the proverbial table.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I requested a black photographer for a cover n the mag told me no lol its 2021.. and almost Juneteenth . Respectfully I can\u2019t do it \ud83e\udd7a\ud83e\udd37\ud83c\udffe\u200d\u2640\ufe0f<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; SZA (@sza) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/sza\/status\/1397281972712476672?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\">May 25, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In a now-viral tweet, the Grammy-nominated artist wrote, \u201c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">I requested a Black photographer for a cover [and] the mag told me no lol. It\u2019s 2021\u2026 and almost Juneteenth. Respectfully I can\u2019t do it.\u201d It is, in fact, 2021, but the overt exclusion of the much-needed Black gaze from behind the camera lens remains an industry standard \u2014 even after a summer of public relations statements purporting an interest in inclusivity. Users flocked to the comments to applaud the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Good Days<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> singer\u2019s commitment to championing Black creatives in the editorial space. And of course, the internet\u2019s penchant for exposing problematic institutions and attempting to hold their feet to the fire compelled other users to insist that SZA disclose the name of the publication.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Das not my vibe but there\u2019s TOO many elite black creatives rn to not allow it. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/mLnkVQr2uH\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/t.co\/mLnkVQr2uH<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; SZA (@sza) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/sza\/status\/1397284434571784197?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\">May 25, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In a subsequent tweet, she dismissed the comments and replied, \u201cDas not my vibe but there\u2019s TOO many elite Black creatives rn to not allow it.\u201d After years of criticism regarding non-POC photographers documenting Black luminaries with unflattering lighting and poor angles, magazines sought to reckon with their distressing pasts. Notably, Tyler Mitchell was the first Black photographer in <em>Vogue&#8217;s<\/em> 128-year history to work with the magazine when he captured Beyonce for her September 2018 cover.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0In response to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/CPT4gKEBWNT\/\" target=\"_blank\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Shade Room<\/span><\/i><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u2019s post regarding her choice to not reveal the publication, SZA said, \u201c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">It\u2019s not deep I jus like the way my ppl SEE me.\u201d Pointing to the elevated dimensionality that Black photographers imbue into their craftsmanship, she added, \u201cI love how we magnify us through our own unique gaze. It&#8217;s artful and magical. Just not into fitting \u2018the white gaze.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29094,"featured_media":24540,"template":"","format":"standard","categories":[38,16],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v18.5 (Yoast SEO v20.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>SZA Wanted To Work With A Black Photographer \u2014 And Was Denied<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"On Monday, SZA took to Twitter to call out an unnamed publication after they denied her request for a Black photographer to shoot her cover photo, sparking a conversation on the importance of Black creatives having a seat at the table.\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/sza-black-photographer\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta 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