Jeremy Okai Davis's exhibition, Presence of Color: Jeremy Okai Davis is currently on view at the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture in Davis's hometown of Charlotte, NC.
“Presence of Color” explores racial biases ingrained in photographic technology. In the mid-20th century, Kodak used the "Shirley card” to balance color in film, centering the white woman as the “normal” in lighting and shadow exposure and embedding whiteness into the technical framework of photography printing.
Through a critical reimagining of the original "Shirley card,” Davis challenges the historical dominance of whiteness in visual culture, positioning Black skin tones as the standard of calibration and reinterpreting Black portraiture with the use of vibrant hues.
