In Idyllic Space, young Black people enjoy simple pleasures, such as eating ice cream, hanging around the pool and playing tag. Mitchell cites the 2014 killing of Tamir Rice – a 12-year-old boy who was shot by Cleveland police while playing outside with a toy pellet gun – as an urgent call to action. Mitchell’s video installation highlights the mindless activities many of us take for granted, very often completely overlooked, as a bold visual reminder that these representational moments of leisure, play and delight, have historically been denied for Black people.

Single channel ceiling mounted video, sound, turf grass, white picket fence

Idyllic Space

In the video installation Chasing Pink, Found Red, the camera pans over a group of Black youths in a park on a warm summer day. The scene is punctuated by commentary crowdsourced by Mitchell from his followers on social media. Their voices express frustrations about their experiences of racism and prejudice. The contrast between the commentary and the video’s optimistic imagery suggests that a sense of caution is commonly built into Black youths’ psyches from an early age: they must avoid being too “off-guard” in public spaces for fear of persecution and even violence.

RT: 29 min 15 sec
Dimensions variable
Edition of 5 + 2AP

Three channel video (all 35mm to video transfer), mirrors, sound

Chasing Pink, Found Red

Comme des Garçons Copper

First shown as a 2 screen installation film at Milan Fashion Week in September 2019.

Simone Rocha x Moncler

In this behind-the-scenes video, we see Beyoncé and her children on set for her legendary photoshoot with 23-year-old Tyler Mitchell.

Beyoncé – American Vogue

Marc Jacobs

The Givenchy by Riccardo Tisci Fall 2017 pre-collection video shot in Copenhagen.

Directed, shot, and edited by Tyler Mitchell
Creative direction by Riccardo Tisci
Music by Quiet Luke
Models: Iselin Steiro, Frederikke Sofie, Elsa Hosk, Jegor Venned, Jonathan Jaffe

Givenchy

I directed and starred a short film shot in my home city of Atlanta telling my story of self discovery for American Eagle's SS17 WeAllCan Campaign

Cinematographer Shane Sigler
Producer Charlotte Rabate
Production Assistant Searcy Kwon

1st AC Megeara Stephens
2nd AC/Media Manager Clarissa Blau

Gaffer Will Cox
Grip Andrew O'Berry
Jib Operator John Kelly

Sound Mixer Joe Elfenbaum
Lifeguard Elizabeth Avery

American Eagle 

A film about trapped black boys
Starring Santangelo Williams, Nathan Carty, Joshua Miner, and Walter Harvin

Cinematography by Owen Smith-Clark
AD Kit Zauhar
AC Adam Simon
Grips Josh Bogatin, Randall Palmer, Isabel Bethencourt, Austin Saunders
PA Alexyss Robinson

Music by Romil Hemnani
Edit + Color by Tyler Mitchell

Wish This Was Real

DP Mika Altskan
AC Liza Gipsova
Gaffer Adam Gundersheimer
PA/Set Photography Jeana Lindo

Hair and Make Up: Carly Heywood and Zuri Marley
Wardrobe: Hannah Grunden, Amrit Sidhu, and Toni Blaze-Ibekwe
Wardrobe Assistant: Jacqueline Moore

Edit by Tyler Mitchell
Color by Tom Byrnes @ RCO

Abra - Come 4 Me

Kevin Abstract - Echo

Brockhampton – Dirt

Directed by Tyler Mitchell
Produced by Joe DePasquale
Production Company: Yacht Club
Producer: Enrique Rivera
Creative Agency: Yours Truly Creative
Creative Directors: Babak Khoshnoud & Will Abramson
Agency Producer: Frances Capell & Francesca Orrach
Director of Photography: Conor Murphy
Steadicam Operator: Sam Law
Production Sound Mixer: James Wasserman
1st AC: Noah Ramos

Edited by Tyler Mitchell & Matt Morgan
Colorist: Alan Gordon @ Post Pro Gumbo
Sound Designer/ Re-Recording Mixer: Chris Scot
Original Score by Albert Gordon and Dom McLennon of Brockhampton

Ray Ban – Brockhampton Documentary

Kevin Abstract – Hell/Heroina

Tyler Mitchell (b. 1995 Atlanta, GA; lives and works in Brooklyn, NY) is a photographer and filmmaker working across many genres to explore and document a new aesthetic of Blackness.

In 2018, he made history as the first Black photographer to shoot a cover of American Vogue for Beyoncé’s appearance in the September issue. The following year, a portrait from this series was acquired by The Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery for its permanent collection.

In 2019 Mitchell held his first solo exhibition, 

, at Foam Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam where he showed new photographic and video works including installation films 

. An iteration of the show traveled to the International Center of Photography (ICP) in New York in 2020. Mitchell published an eponymous monograph with Prestel RandomHouse in conjunction with the exhibition, further exploring his take on a Black visual utopia.

In 2020 Mitchell was announced as the recipient of the Gordon Parks Fellowship, which will support a new project that reflects and draws inspiration from Parks’ central themes of representation and social justice. Mitchell’s fellowship will culminate in an exhibition of the new works at the Gordon Parks Foundation Gallery in Pleasantville, NY.

Mitchell has lectured at a number of institutions on the politics of image making including Harvard University, Paris Photo and the International Center of Photography (ICP).

American Vogue, British Vogue, Teen Vogue, Vanity Fair, WSJ Magazine, M Le Monde, i-D Magazine, AnOther Magazine, Dazed Magazine, Document Journal, The Guardian, The FADER

Comme des Garçons, Uniqlo, Calvin Klein, Prada, Apple, Mercedes Benz, Loewe, JW Anderson, Simone Rocha x Moncler, Marc Jacobs, Givenchy, Converse, Nike, Ray-Ban

Art in America: In conversation with Amy Sherald

, Self Published, 108 pages, Softcover perfect bound

, The International Center of Photography, New York, NY, Jan 25-March 15 & Sept 1-January 4, 2021

, Foam Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam, April 19-June 5

, Aperture Foundation, Oct 24-Jan 18, 2020, (

 in Arles, France as part of Recontres d'Arles)

, Aperture Foundation, New York, NY, Curated by Siobhán Bohnaker, Brendan Embser, Marvin Orellana, and Antwaun Sargent, Jun 28-Aug 24

, Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Aspen, CO, July 23

Aperture Conversations: Tyler Mitchell and Salamishah Tillet on Black Utopia

, With Thelma Golden, Vogue Forces of Fashion, New York, NY, Oct 10

Artist Walkthrough of Roy DeCarava’s exhibition 

, David Zwirner Gallery, New York, NY, Sept 14

 With Deborah Willis and Grace Wales Bonner, Foam Amsterdam, Apr 19

In Conversation with Sarah Elizabeth Lewis, Harvard University, Mar 7

Take the Shot: Photography in the Digital Age, With Deana Lawson, Ming Smith and Hank Willis Thomas, No Commission Art Basel Miami, Dec 6

, International Center of Photography Museum, With Ashleigh Kane, Nov 7

, Talk Art Podcast with Russell Tovey and Robert Diamant, Dec 3, 2020 

Dialogues: Tyler Mitchell and Antwaun Sargent

, David Zwirner Podcast with Lucas Zwirner, April 8, 2020

Tyler Mitchell, From Skateboarding to Photographing Beyoncé

, The Business of Fashion Podcast with Imran Amed, July 26, 2019

British Fashion Awards New Wave Creatives