African Photos Are the Backbone of a Living Room Gallery

“Living abroad changed everything for me,” Stephanie Baptist, a Brooklyn-based cultural producer and editor, said. “It opened up an entirely new scope of possibility and the idea of having global conversations.”

Baptist, whose first love is photography, moved to London in 2009 after working as a photography agent in New York for nearly six years. She pursued a master’s degree in arts administration and cultural policy at Goldsmiths, University of London, to expand her artistic knowledge and equip herself to work with artists in a more meaningful way.

The move also inspired “an exploratory phase.” While in London, Baptist dived into works by artists of color and familiarized herself with names beyond legends like Malik Sidibé.

“I was interested in who else was out there, and I started to look up and see if there were any spaces dedicated to black artists,” she said. Through her research, Baptist came across galleries whose rosters included the kinds of artists she found interesting. In 2011, she bought her first piece — Hamidou Maïga’s “Untitled (1973).”

After graduating, Baptist spent three years as head of exhibitions and public programs at Tiwani Contemporary, a London gallery focused on artists from the African continent and diaspora. Since she returned to New York in 2014, she has worked on an array of projects, from editing art books to curating large-scale installations.

Last June, she converted her 500-square-foot living room — currently painted lime green — into a gallery, where she welcomes established collectors and newer art lovers alike. The space, which Baptist christened Medium Tings, is open on Sundays and has allowed her to keep exploring the world of art. “I want to continue to facilitate conversations around emerging art practice specifically for artists of color, and to help individuals see themselves reflected,” she said.

These are edited excerpts from the conversation.

A: Hamidou Maïga’s “Untitled (1973).” I was drawn to the work because it is in the tradition of other Malian photographers. It was his first exhibition and he was in his 80s, and so for me, I saw the beauty in how you can really be dedicated to your craft for a really long time and be independent and entrepreneurial and then later find yourself on a global stage.

A: I feel like it really speaks to its generation, and it’s a different level of storytelling and narrative, especially when you are adding in these faux backdrops. There is this aspirational type of environment and living and also the idea of putting on your best clothing or even dressing up in costume to be photographed. When I was younger, my family would take me to Sears. That was the thing, to get a professional portrait, and there would be backdrops of a similar fashion so this idea of putting on a presentation in front of the camera is something that I was really attracted to.

A: Yes. I’ve tried to position that one in multiple places, but he is the eldest of all the artists, and you give privilege to your elders, so it gets to hang alone.

A: So that is Jonathan Gardenhire. It’s a beautiful piece, it is called “Untitled (Shomari).” Jonathan explores the idea of agency and who has the right to represent blackness. There was really something quite beautiful about that work; I just couldn’t turn away from it. His expression is something that really got me because it’s not — how do I describe it — there is just such an air of ‘this is me’ that is evoked and it’s against this hue of pink; you never see black men against a hue of pink.

A: On this wall I would say the Zina Saro-Wiwa. As of late, I’ve been particularly drawn to the black male. I think there is something about the way black males are being portrayed in the images that I acquire that you don’t see in public. I specifically acquire works that I feel like hold people from a place of pride, a place of reverence, a place of beauty. Even though this is speaking specifically to Ogoniland, around the Niger Delta, I think there is an incredible beauty to this stance, to being placed in such a lush environment.