About

Our goal is to support and promote the art and science of photography in all styles and formats, as individuals, as an organization, and as part of the community so that all may enjoy and benefit from the images of our lives.

 

Historic shoot for Black Artists at SSCAC Painters, sculptors, photographers, and numerous other visual artists gathered for a historic photo shoot May 28, 05 on the steps of the South Side Community Art Center.

OUR MISSION

The mission of the Chicago Alliance of African-American Photographers is:

  • To photographically document the culture, society, and history of African-Americans, its communities, residents and their ethnic exchange in the Greater Chicago area and throughout the world.
  • To promote the work of professional and amateur photographers through sponsored exhibitions, publications, lectures and education in the field of photography, and its related genre.
  • To Use our photographic images and expertise to inform the public and our community about the importance of photography as an informative and creative medium of expression.

CAAAP is open to all commercial, fine art, freelance,
and newspaper photographers interested in supporting these efforts.





OUR BEGINNINGS

The Chicago Alliance of African-American Photographers (CAAAP) founded on March 8, 1999, by seven photographers; Leslie Adkins, Bob Black, Martha Brock, Milbert O. Brown Jr., Terry Harris, Brent Jones and Lee Landry. Their initial goal was to document Chicago's African-American communities at the turn of the 21st Century. The primary objectives of the organization grew to unify Chicago based professional African-American photographers, and promote the art of photography through exhibitions, lectures and educational programs.

The membership of the Chicago Alliance of African-American Photographers is composed of commercial, fine art, freelance, documentary, newspaper photojournalists, and amateur photographers. Their talents cover the full spectrum of photography from street artists and news, to studio photography. Although many of our members are established professionals, some are hobbyists. However, all of our members share a passion for the art of photography, and it's power to inform, educate and record history. Our membership has included three Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalists, and a former Chicago Tribune photojournalist named Ovie Carter, who won the 1975 Pulitzer for International Reporting. Milbert O. Brown Jr. and Ovie Carter were members of the Chicago Tribune's 2001 Pulitzer Prize-winning team for Explanatory Reporting. The Chicago Sun-Times' John H. White, won the 1982 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography. The original project, "The Journey: The Next 100 Years", was a photographic project documenting the culture and lifestyles of Greater Chicago's African-American communities at the beginning of a new millennium. Over 50 African-American photographers from Chicago produced compelling black and white images of the first year of the 'new' century. In 2001, The Journey: The Next 100 Years; was a featured photographic exhibition that opened concurrently at Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Art, and the 'legendary,' community-based institution: The South Side Community Art Center in the Bronzeville neighborhood of Chicago. Over the next twenty-four months, the exhibit traveled throughout the Chicago metropolitan area where these powerful images exhibited at public libraries, art galleries, universities, and museums.

Over the ensuing years, CAAAP members and their photographs were featured in local, national, and international publications, including the Chicago Defender, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, The New York Times, Black Enterprise Magazine, and Ebony/Jet Magazines. Members have participated in educational lectures and exhibits at Loyola University, Northwestern University, University of Illinois – Chicago and Roosevelt University. Our members have also made appearances on local media, radio, and television, and interviewed in Vibe Magazine, and The New York Times. In 2006, CAAAP produced and published a book of the project "The Journey: The Next 100 Years"; featuring over 300 images by 70 CAAAP members from 2000 through 2005.

In 2006, with funding provided from the Chicago Tribune Foundation, assistance from Roosevelt University, and the Chicago History Museum, CAAAP produced and published a book of the project “The Journey: The Next 100 Years”; featuring over 300 images, produced by 70 CAAAP members from 2000 through 2005.

2021-23 Officers:

  • Kaye Cooksey, President
  • Abena Sharon, Vice President
  • Sonja Hughes, Treasurer
  • Bernard Brown Sr, Sergeant of Arms