Ernest Cole’s works are a visual narrative of the everyday life, strength, and dignity of Black residents of Harlem, as well as a poignant reflection on systemic violence and racial exclusion.
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The exhibition presents a moving phase in the work of the legendary South African photographer. His photographs, created in New York between 1967 and 1972, offer a visual narrative of the everyday life, strength, and dignity of Black residents of Harlem, as well as a poignant reflection on systemic violence and racial exclusion.
Ernest Cole (1940–1990) was one of the first Black independent photographers from South Africa. He collaborated with publications such as Drum and The New York Times. After fleeing South Africa in 1966, the apartheid regime confiscated his passport and banned him from returning to his homeland for life. In the United States, he focused on street photography and, between 1969 and 1971, collaborated with the Tiofoto collective in Sweden. In 1972, Cole stopped photographing and, over the years, experienced periods of homelessness.
Negatives from Ernest Cole’s American period were considered lost for more than four decades. It was not until 2017 that over 60,000 of them were discovered in a vault of a Stockholm bank. In 2024, Aperture published Cole’s photographs for the first time in the book The True America, documenting the lives of Black people in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Ernest Cole did not depict the people he photographed as passive victims. He portrayed their strength and agency in the fight for their rights. His photographs bear witness to the birth of a collective identity, as well as the power of movements such as Black Pride and Black Power. In the exhibition, the narrative of oppression is intertwined with images of everyday life in the United States.
Ernest Cole’s photography exhibition is another voice in the issues that the National Museum of Ethnography in Warsaw addresses in this year’s exhibition program, Against Stereotypes. These include topics such as social exclusion, racial prejudice, as well as the affirmation of Black communities and cultures—their pride and strength. From the Museum’s perspective, the question of photographic representation is particularly important: creating images on one’s own terms, from within the community, and in opposition to the oppressive stereotypes that have been propagated through this medium for decades.
The temporary exhibition Ernest Cole: A Photographer in Exile is organized by the National Museum of Ethnography in Warsaw and Against Gravity, the organizer of the 22nd Millennium Docs Against Gravity Film Festival, in collaboration with Autograph, London, and Magnum Photos.
curatorial team
Julia Grudzień – a graduate of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology and a student of Artes Liberales at the University of Warsaw, staff member of the Education Department at the National Museum of Ethnography.
Mark Sealy – Director of Autograph Gallery and Professor of Photography at the University of the Arts London. Curator of the first edition of the exhibition Ernest Cole: A Lens in Exile at Autograph Gallery in London.
- Content available in Polish and English
- Audio description of the entire exhibition and selected objects in Polish and English
- Tactile graphics of selected objects
- Video guide to the exhibition and information in Polish Sign Language
- Wide circulation areas and resting spaces
- Texts with appropriately sized fonts to ensure comfortable reading for a wide audience
Director of the State Ethnographic Museum in Warsaw: Magdalena Wróblewska
Curator (Autograph): Mark Sealy
Curator (National Museum of Ethnography): Julia Grudzień
Text authors: Julia Grudzień, Mark Sealy
Project coordination: Julia Grudzień
Visual identity and layout: Parastudio
Translation: Agata Dawid
Editing and proofreading: Marta Elas
Conservation supervision: Anna Wielechowska-Olszak
Accessibility: Justyna Zieniuk, Foundation for Culture Without Barriers
Production coordination and logistics: Marta Ancelewska
Technical team and organizational cooperation: Mariusz Horoś, Marcin Kiersnowski, Kamila Końska, Piotr Maciukiewicz, Łukasz Malinowski, Tomasz Rychter, Zenon Winnicki
PR and communications: Łukasz Gackowski, Patrycja Lewandowska, Marta Matysiak, Jakub Nowociński, Przemysław Walczak
Acknowledgments: Andrea Holzherr (Magnum Photos), Clara Fremaut (Magnum Photos), Irene Lombardo (Magnum Photos), Leslie Matlaisane (The Ernest Cole Family Trust), Raoul Peck, Mark Sanders, Denise Wolff (Aperture), Bindi Vora (Autograph), Greta Hewison (Autograph), and the team and staff of Autograph London
Organizers and partners: National Museum of Ethnography in Warsaw, Millennium Docs Against Gravity Festival, Autograph London, Magnum Photos, The Ernest Cole Family Trust
