When Malcolm Manning looks through the viewfinder of his camera and beholds the woman who will be the subject of his portrait, he sees a story unique to her. As a Black man raised in Newark, New Jersey, whose mother insisted on photographing his every move on the basketball court, Manning SEBS’21 also sees his mother. And he sees strength. Resilience. Pain. Grace. Love. Magic. “I find joy in capturing all their different features that make them into the beautiful creations that they are,” says Manning, who graduated in May with a major in exercise science and intends to become a physical therapist. “Black queens will be celebrated because they deserve to be.” His tweet of his photography last December to drum up some work caught the attention of the queen of queens, Oprah Winfrey, who responded days later with her own tweet expressing an interest in commissioning Manning to photograph a story for her new website. Until that moment arrives, he is biding his time, he says: “I am perfecting my craft so that when I get to her, I can give this opportunity my all.”
Photo by Malcolm Manning
Read an interview with Manning at magazine.rutgers.edu/the-arts.
For further information, visit airmcm.myportfolio.com.
