Open through May 18 at the International Center of Photography New York is the inaugural exhibition by Brooklyn-based photographer and filmmaker Tyler Mitchell entitled I Can Make You Feel Good.

Ever-inspired by black people and culture, there is a notion in Tyler’s work that gives black people a certain type of freedom, sensuality, youth, and attractiveness.

I aim to visualize what a Black utopia looks like or could look like. People say utopia is never achievable, but I love the possibility that photography brings. It allows me to dream and make that dream become very real.

The show is a celebration of the black body, in all its intimacy and purity. Tyler uses tools such as reportage, portraiture, fashion photography, art photography, and filmmaking to document or stage the new aesthetic of Blackness.

I Can Make You Feel Good is simply a declaration. And one that, for me, is gut-punching in its optimism. It feels important at a time like this to declare such a thing.”

Take a look at some of the photographs from the exhibition below.

Posted by:Staff