This article is part of the Fine Arts & Exhibits special section on the art world stretching boundaries with new artists, new audiences and new technology.
There’s a nostalgic game that, at times, can be tempting to play. It involves imagining the creative friendships that could have existed if history had gone differently.
Take one example: If the photographer Rotimi Fani-Kayode had not died in 1989 at age 34 of AIDS-related complications, he and Ming Smith, another virtuoso of the camera, would have been approximate contemporaries. Perhaps they would know each other. Perhaps they would both be sharing the shine of recognition today.
This fall, the Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus, Ohio, has made this hypothetical pairing feel closer to reality: It has opened dual exhibitions, “Ming Smith: Wind Chime” and “Rotimi Fani-Kayode: Tranquility of Communion.”
The concurrent shows, open until Jan. 5, 2025, were conceived at different moments and organized by different curators. Fani-Kayode’s exhibition was guest curated by Mark Sealy, a British cultural historian and the director of Autograph, London — which partnered with the Wexner on the exhibition. Smith’s show was organized by Kelly Kivland, a former Wexner curator who is now director and lead curator of Michigan Central’s art program.
As conversations progressed, it became clear that these two photographers — both of whom have made robust, unique contributions to Black image-making — could be presented in dialogue. But the affinity between them stretches beyond their racial identity: it also stems from their images and the questions raised in them.
