Representation and Presentation: Andre D. Wagner

Through his powerful black and white snapshots, street photographer Andre D. Wagner captures the nuanced lives of communities of color in America.
Alyssa Lapid, CULTURED, January 20, 2020
Andre D. Wagner sits on a stoop outside his Bushwick apartment, watching the neighborhood unfold at dusk. A girl, no older than six, twirls in her tutu in front of a bench. Four other kids are in motion—laughing, dancing and playing around. Unhurried, Wagner adjusts the settings on his 28mm Leica M6, an appendage he never leaves home without. He tweaks the shutter speed and the F-Stop, puts the camera to his eye and clicks.
 

In the resulting black-and-white long-exposure photograph, the girl’s tutu becomes a cloudy blur. A boy is caught mid-jump. One girl’s body is a complete haze, like that of a ghost’s.

 

Wagner is a sought-after photographer. He regularly contributes to “The Look,” a New York Times column. His Instagram account has amassed upwards of 97,000 followers—including Erykah Badu, who regularly comments on images he shares. Lifestyle brands like Madewell and Hennessy tap him for campaigns. Yet Wagner prefers shooting regular people in the streets: A barefoot kid playing with a bursting water hydrant; a tattooed woman in the subway writing “Fuck Trump” on a blank sheet of paper; two women wearing hijabs whispering to each other under a bridge. In the midst of commissions photographing the likes of Dua Lipa, Issa Rae and SZA, Wagner remains dedicated to telling narratives about people of color in New York City.