Ethan James Green’s New Gallery Space Celebrates Baltimore Photographer Steven Cuffie
Frequent Vogue contributor Ethan James Green has long made his Chinatown studio and office space an informal hub; a place that fellow photographers looking for somewhere to shoot can fall back on. Now, on the fifth floor of the same red brick building, Green has opened a gallery, extending that spirit of collaboration and mentorship even further.
Called New York Life Gallery, the space’s raison d être is to spotlight other creatives. “I wanted to start showing people’s work,” Green tells Vogue. “I have a lot of people photographing in my studio and coming in and out. There’s a lot of things being created here.”
He’s begun by casting an eye backwards: New York Life Gallery’s first exhibition centers the work of Baltimore photographer Steven Cuffie (1949–2014). Green was attracted to Cuffie, the subject of only a small scattering of shows during his lifetime, because of his portraits. A strong through line of care and shared vulnerability—between subject, photographer, and viewer—characterizes the pictures, which in the 1970s and ’80s often focused on Black women Cuffie knew. In the nude portraits on display, sweat-soaked women pose in their apartments, gazing directly at the camera with a quiet power, while others see women outside, projecting their beauty and joy in an urban environment once narrowly associated with crime and poverty. Cuffie’s lens captured a humanistic vision of a city in strife.
“It’s so incredible,” Green says of the imagery, “and the fact that it never really had been seen before is mind-blowing. It’s such strong work.”
Green’s exhibition, titled “Women,” actually came about through another Cuffie. New York stylist Marcus Cuffie—whom Green had met years ago on a photoshoot—was archiving and digitizing their late father’s work in a lab when Green spotted it. “It was so clear that this was what should be the first show,” Green says.
Fast-forward six months and, on a recent rainy afternoon, Cuffie is confidently guiding visitors around the exhibition they curated, filled with works they only came to know and appreciate over time. “I considered him a photographer, but it wasn’t until I got older that I was like, ‘Oh, he’s actually an artist,’” they recall. “I think that’s also because when I was younger, he was mostly working for the City of Baltimore as a photographer. That was his day job. A lot of the work during the ’90s is more related to the government and the city, even though it does have an artistic focus, too.”
The younger Cuffie, who is 31, views the exhibition as a chance to place their father’s work in a larger context and highlight his direct influences, which included Gordon Parks. A simple question guided the curation process: “If my dad were to show this work, what’s the way in which he would have wanted it seen?”
A key decision early on was to present a 360-degree view of the women it featured. Cuffie explains, “I know the relationship between my dad and some of the women was intimate, so I wanted a way to replicate that intimacy so the space could feel safe for a viewer to enter into.” They deliberately homed in on photographs where the subjects are staring directly into the lens, leavening them with more casual (and clothed) images throughout.
Indeed, for Cuffie, digging through old, unopened boxes—all from years before they were born—to put “Women” together has been an interesting blend of narrative-building, archiving, and curation. Asked to single out a favorite shot, they glide over to the rear wall, where they’re drawn to a portrait of a woman sitting on a staircase. The low contrast makes her dark skin seem to blend into the shadows. “I love how she’s looking at the camera,” Cuffie says.
Steven Cuffie might not have been taking photographs to exhibit them in New York, but according to Marcus, there are facets of their father’s work that make it more than worthy of critical attention. “The specificity of being Black in an urban environment” is how Cuffie describes the overarching artistic focus of their father’s portfolio. “Even in the pictures of children…there’s a certain joy in them, but around the edges there’s a kind of dilapidation and poverty of the city that still runs in the images.” They point out the sweeping social and cultural changes that Baltimore underwent in the ’70s and ’80s. “He would have seen this radical shift in the lives of Black people.”
Cuffie has big plans involving their father’s work, among them managing his estate and staging future exhibitions that focus on other themes and motifs (for instance, buildings). But most immediately forthcoming? Leading a tour of the “Women” exhibition for family members in town for the weekend.
“Steven Cuffie: Women” is on view through December 16.
Photo: On White Wall, Courtesy New York Life Gallery1/6
Photo: On White Wall, Courtesy New York Life Gallery2/6
