HCC hosts acclaimed photographer Rashod Taylor

Acclaimed photographer Rashod Taylor will be at Heartland Community College (HCC) for two public events connected to his exhibition Little Black Boy. 

Taylor will give a lecture open to the public at the HCC Astroth Community Education Center Auditorium, at 11: 00 AM on Monday, April 11. The artist will discuss the series and the unique process used to create the photos included in the exhibit. 

An artist reception will follow the presentation at Joe McCauley Gallery, located in Instructional Commons Building (ICB) 2507, from 4:00 PM – 6:00 PM on April 11. 

Rashod Taylor’s unique work has been featured recently in National Geographic and The Atlantic magazine. Taylor works with larger format cameras and captures images through the wet collodion process on glass plates, a method that produces tintypes: a category of photograph that was most popular in the 1860s and has been recently revived as a novelty art form. In exercising this portrait medium, Taylor’s work causes its viewers to make connections to history while contemplating its present existence, themes, and subject matter. 

“My work addresses themes of race, culture, family, and legacy and these images are a kind of family album, filled with friends and family, birthdays, vacations, and everyday life. At the same time, these images tell you more than my family story; they’re a window into the Black American experience,” said Taylor. “As I document my son, I am interested in examining his childhood and the world he navigates.” 

The event and the exhibit are free and open to the public. 

The Joe McCauley Gallery at Heartland is presenting Little Black Boy through May 13, 2022.

About the Artist

Rashod Taylor attended Murray State University and received a Bachelor’s degree in Art with a specialization in Fine Art Photography. Taylor has since exhibited and published nationally and internationally. Most recently his Little Black Boy Series was acquired by the Museum of Fine Arts Houston and received the 2021 Arnold Newman Prize for New Directions in Photographic Portraiture. Taylor was also a 2020 Critical Mass Top 50 Finalist, winner of Lens Culture’s Critics Choice award and a 2021 Feature Shoot Emerging Photography Awards winner.  

The artist aylor recently moved from Bloomington/Normal, IL and currently resides in Springfield, MO with his wife and son. 

About the Joe McCauley Gallery 

Exhibits, events, and parking at Heartland’s Joe McCauley Gallery are free. The Gallery is in room 2507 of the Instructional Commons Building (ICB) on Heartland's Normal campus, 1500 W. Raab Road. 

• View the campus map at https://www.heartland.edu/documents/about/hccCampusMap.pdf

Hours are Monday-Thursday from 9:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m. and Fridays from 9:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. (on days the College is open). Appointments for groups can also be made upon request.

For more information about this exhibit, visit https://www.heartland.edu/artGallery or contact Gallery Coordinator, Shahrbanoo Hamzeh at Shahrbanoo.Hamzeh@heartland.edu.