''The Sweet Breath of Life: A Poetic Narrative of the African-American Family'' is a 2004 photographic poetic narrative by

Ntozake Shange Ntozake Shange ( ;
FilmReference.com. Retrieved October 27, 2018. October 18, 1948 – October 27, 2018) ...

and the photography collective Kamoinge Inc. The

Kamoinge Workshop The Kamoinge Workshop is a photography collective that was founded in 1963. In 2013, the group stood as “the longest continuously running non-profit group in the history of photography.” The collective was born when two groups of African-Ameri ...

was founded in New York in 1963 to support the work of black photographers in a field then dominated by white photographers. The book was first published on October 26, 2004, through Atria Books and was edited by Frank Steward, the president of Kamoinge Inc.

Summary

The book depicts the various aspects of everyday urban African-American life through poetic narrative. Through poetic narrative and accompanying photographs, the book deals with various themes such as religion, identity, and representation.

Contributing photographers

*Frank Stewart * Anthony Barboza *Adger Cowans *Gerald Cyrus *Louis Draper *Albert Fennar *Collette Fournier *James Francis *Steve Martin *Toni Parks *

Herbert Randall Herbert Eugene Randall, Jr. (born December 16, 1936 in the Bronx) is an American photographer who had documented the effects of the Civil Rights Movement. Randall is of Shinnecock, African-American and West Indian ancestry. Education Randall s ...

* Eli Reed *Herb Robinson *Beuford Smith *

Ming Smith Ming Smith is an American photographer. She was the first African-American female photographer whose work was acquired by the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Biography Smith was born in Detroit, Michigan, and raised in Columbus, Ohio. Aft ...

*June Truesdale *Budd Williams

Reception

Critical reception for ''The Sweet Breath of Life'' has been positive and reviewers have compared the work to that of

Langston Hughes James Mercer Langston Hughes (February 1, 1901 – May 22, 1967) was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist from Joplin, Missouri. One of the earliest innovators of the literary art form called jazz poetry, Hug ...

and

Roy DeCarava Roy Rudolph DeCarava (December 9, 1919 – October 27, 2009) was an American artist. DeCarava received early critical acclaim for his photography, initially engaging and imaging the lives of African Americans and jazz musicians in the commun ...

. ''

Black Issues Book Review ''Black Issues Book Review'' was a bimonthly magazine published in New York City, U.S., in which books of interest to African-American readers were reviewed. It was published from 1999 until 2007. History and profile ''Black Issues Book Review'' ...

'' judges some of the photos to be outdated and that some of the poems felt more like journalism than poetry, but also that when the poems and photography worked together they were "powerfully made" and "breathtaking". ''

Curve In mathematics, a curve (also called a curved line in older texts) is an object similar to a line (geometry), line, but that does not have to be Linearity, straight. Intuitively, a curve may be thought of as the trace left by a moving point (ge ...

'' rated the book highly, citing the photography as one of the book's highlights. The ''

Tri-State Defender The ''Tri-State Defender'' is a weekly African-American newspaper serving Memphis, Tennessee, and the nearby areas of Arkansas, Mississippi and Tennessee. It bills itself as "The Mid-South's Best Alternative Newspaper". The ''Defender'' was fou ...

'' praised the project as "a wonderful blend of words and images that give definition to the beauty and wonder of contemporary African-American culture."

References

External links

Ntozake Shange Papers, 1966-2016; Barnard Archives and Special Collections, Barnard Library, Barnard College
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sweet Breath of Life, The American poetry collections Narrative poems 2004 books African-American cultural history Works by Ntozake Shange African-American literature Literature by African-American women Atria Publishing Group books