Zora J Murff | American Mother, American Father

Paris Photo - Curiosa booth SC2

11 - 14 November 2021

American Mother, American Father at Paris Photo marks Webber gallery’s inaugural participation in the prestigious Paris fair.

In this new work, artist and activist Zora J Murff challenges his own relationship to race and Blackness, using himself as a site for broader social critique and interrogate an increasing yet conflicting desire for status, success, and positioning.

Drawing on vernacular and family photographs, combined with newly produced images that challenge racial stereotyping, the artist presents these images as ‘affirmations’ as he learns to unpick and remake himself in his own image. Murff states “My early images were made when I was experiencing rapid upward social mobility and becoming acquainted with Arkansas and Mississippi, my ancestral landscapes. Visiting the birthplaces of my maternal and paternal families forced me to reflect on how we build identity, how identity can be created for us, and how those phenomena collide.”

Zora J Murff at Paris Photo is accompanied by a simultaneous exhibition at Webber Gallery, featuring works from Murff's acclaimed previous series, At No Point In Between, and the launch of Murff’s anticipated new publication, True Colors (or, Affirmations in a Crisis), an incisive, autobiographical retelling of the struggles and epiphanies of a young Black artist, published by Aperture. An exhibition of Murff’s work will be on view in New York, as part of the Next Step Award, a joint collaboration between Aperture and Baxter St at the Camera Club of New York, with the generous support of 7G Foundation. In 2020, Zora J Murff was the first artist to receive the award, which aims to identify strong emerging or evolving voices whose work deserves greater recognition.

Zora J Murff will host a presentation of his work as part of Paris Photo's public program on Thursday 11 November at 15.30, and a book signing with Aperture on Friday 12 November.