The Black List

In front of a gallery containing 25 larger than life size color photos composed and shot by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders a monitor plays a clip from the documentary The Black List.
This particular moment has Chris Rock talking about breaking into showbiz. His friends told him he was funnier than some guy they’d seen at Madison Square Gardens. For Rock, working at UPS was, he thought, a pinnacle of success. “Where I live now there’re four black residents. Hall of Famer, Hall of Famer, world’s greatest singer (Mary Blige), and me. Next door to me is a white dentist,” relates Rock with a sly smile.
This HBO documentary (broadcast on cable August 25 and showing at the MFA throughout September) combined with the Greenfield-Sanders portraits forms The Black List Project.
A five-gallery expanse titled Houston Collects: African American Art that “traces social and artistic themes of the last 130 years,” accompanies The Black Project to cover the entire upper front wing of the Law Building.
From the museum’s press kit: “The Black List borrows its title from the infamous 1950s-era dossier of suspected American communists, playing on the connotations given to the word black. Toni Morrison talks about her absorption with literature as a teenager, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar recalls an encounter with Miles Davis.”
Greenfield-Sanders, who previously directed Lou Reed: Rock and Roll Heart, has his photos in prominent permanent collections around the world. He made The Black List in collaboration with film critic and NPR commentator Elvis Mitchell. “In terms of arts and culture this is the way the world thinks,” Mitchell remarks about the Afrocentricity that permeates modern culture. Other portraits on display include: Colin Powell, Dawn Staley, Slash, William Rice, Al Sharpton, Mahlon Duckett, Susan Rice, Richard Parsons, Russell Simmons, Vernon Jordan, Faye Wattleton, Serena Williams, and Zane.
In addition to participating in the film the interviewees were asked to pose for the striking portrait shots. Speaking at a media preview the day before the exhibit opened to the public Mitchell and Greenfield-Sanders noted the behavior of their celebrity talent regarding the documentary. “Russell Simmons gave us 45 seconds, he actually put down the phone,” Mitchell recalled. By contrast “Colin Powell gave us several minutes, but he had to leave to get to his office to watch The Price is Right.”
The Black List plays at the MFA’s Brown Auditorium on Thursdays through Sundays during the month of September.