Tyler DeHaarte

The Unspectacular Negro

Tyler DeHaarte is a Brooklyn-raised visual artist. His practice involves the simultaneous use of photographic portraiture, audio collage, and film. Entwined together his work revolves primarily around the introspection of race, intimacy and family. He is the recipient of the 2018-2019 AIGA Worldstudio Scholarship.

The Unspectacular Negro is a multi media reexamination of my upbringing and the expectations of Black bodies in society. I, like my community, am searching for the oasis promised. There is a performance that is often ingrained into Black society, the role of the “spectacular negro”: conditioning to perform away one’s Blackness. This performance equates to being considered human in society . What does outgrowing this lack of freedom in both public and private spaces look like?   To truly be free and at rest is to be unspectacular, void of any expectations or imaginations of what you should be.

• Personal Website

• tylerdehaarte.com