NOTHING PERSONAL: A COLLABORATION IN BLACK AND WHITE

This exhibition closely examines the book, Nothing Personal (1964), a collaborative artwork in book form by two legendary American artists, James Baldwin, the African American writer, public intellectual, and civil rights activist, and Richard Avedon the Jewish fashion and portrait photographer. Nothing Personal is a unique cultural object, presenting images of celebrity and the celebration of exceptionalism alongside depictions of the corrosive effects of capitalism and racism on society.

As we celebrate the 100th year since James Baldwin’s birth, and mark 60 years since the first publication of Nothing Personal, the book remains provocative. We continue to ask the same questions that Baldwin and Avedon were posing in 1964. We are still channel surfing or doom-scrolling; obsessing over appearances, while protests for systemic change continue. Global tensions and threats of nuclear war remain high. Wealth inequalities continue to escalate, and many people struggle to meet their basic needs, including mental health and housing.

Nothing Personal serves as a reminder of the power of art and literature to wield social change. As you engage with the exhibition, we encourage you to draw out the connections to current events, and consider how each of us can collaborate, like Baldwin and Avedon, in creating a vision for a more compassionate and just world.