Invisible Man, Somewhere, Everywhere by Ming Smith, made between 1988 and 1991 in locations including Harlem and Pittsburgh's Hill District, centers on the tension between visibility and erasure in Black American life, drawing inspiration from Ralph Ellison's novel of the same name.
Smith interrogates how Black presence can be firmly present in everyday life yet often overlooked or dismissed by society. Visually, the series is marked by black-and-white compositions, blurred silhouettes, and moody lighting. Smith often renders subjects in motion, favoring long exposures and soft focus to resist conventional clarity. Rather than capturing static portraits, she seeks atmospheric states, privileging moments of transition. Her images frequently emphasize light as metaphor, drawing on Ellison's own associations of illumination with self-recognition.
Technically speaking, Smith used 35mm fast film and long exposures to create soft, blurred effects. She occasionally added paint and experimented in the darkroom, reinforcing her belief that photography should convey emotion as much as depict form.
Initially under-recognized, the work gained lasting visibility through MoMA’s early acquisition (1990) and later Projects: Ming Smith (2023), organized with The Studio Museum in Harlem. Appearances in Soul of a Nation (2017–19) and Arthur Jafa’s curatorial projects, alongside a MoMA One on One volume, situate the series as a touchstone of Black artistic visibility.
