Adam Davis 'Black Magic' Tintype Activation

From Monday, June 6, through Wednesday, June 8, multidisciplinary Los Angeles-based artist Adam Davis will bring his celebrated diasporic documentation project, Black Magic, to Retreat at Currency Exchange Café.

This project is a community centered effort to expand the original form of studio image creation called tintype photography. While traveling to historically Black cities around the United States, the goal is to make 20,000 tintype portraits to create the largest contemporary archive of Black American studio portraits. Now, you and your family have the opportunity to be be part of this extensive collection of tintypes chronicling Black life through images.

Each portrait session yields 2 portraits, one for the sitter and one for Davis’ archive. Themes explored in this body of work include the celebration of Blackness, Queerness, & Afrofuturism in relation to time. Given the archival nature of tintypes, these images serve as artifacts, granting the ability to pass down the stories and likeness to generations to come.

Chicago's rich diasporic legacy unites families from across the Great Migration and has become an important node in Adam's national survey of Black life. The goal while in Chicago is to photograph Black families, from child to elder. Join us at Retreat from 8 AM to 5 PM on Monday through Wednesday to take part in this project.

Featured in this portrait is Maggi Simpkins (@maggisimpkins).

Read more about Adam's archival project in the Los Angeles Times.