Original version

BBC World Service Australasia

Witness History

Podcasts

Factual: Life Stories

Factual: History

History as told by the people who were there

History as told by the people who were there.

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa Schedule

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa

BBC World Service Online

BBC World Service schedule for American satellite radio and the Caribbean

BBC World Service Americas and the Caribbean

BBC World Service

BBC World Service South Asia

BBC World Service News Internet

BBC World Service Europe and the Middle East

BBC World Service West and Central Africa Schedule

BBC World Service West and Central Africa

BBC World Service East Asia

Witness History: Ming Smith makes history at MoMA

Documentaries

Ming Smith makes history at MoMA

16/06/2023 GMT

BBC World Service - Witness History, Ming Smith makes history at MoMA

MoMA bought photos from an African-American woman for the first time in 1979.

The Museum of Modern Art, (MoMA) bought photographs from an African-American woman for the first time in 1979. 

Ming Smith played with slow shutter speeds in her photos.

In 1979, The Museum of Modern Art, (MoMA) purchased photographs from an African-American woman for the first time in its history. 

Ming Smith was famous for capturing her subjects with slow shutter speeds and using oil paints to layer colour onto her black and white photos.

She worked as a model in New York in the 1970s, while pursuing her passion for photography and was friends with Grace Jones.

Ming took a powerful image of Grace performing at the iconic Studio 54 nightclub in 1978 after meeting her at an audition. 

Ming was also a backing dancer in Tina Turner’s music video for What’s Love Got to Do with It, where she captured Tina glancing away from the camera, in front of Brooklyn Bridge wearing a leather skirt, denim jacket and patent stilettos with huge spiky hair. 

Ming speaks to Reena Stanton-Sharma about graduating with a degree in microbiology, modelling and struggling to make a living, and then becoming a famous photographer with a retrospective at MoMA in 2023. 

(Photo: Tina Turner, What’s Love Got to Do with It. Credit: Ming Smith)

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Witness History

Ming Smith makes history at MoMA

Genres

Formats

Brand

BBC World Service Australasia

About BBC World Service