#128 - Tres hermanas - Cuajinicuilapa, Guerrero, México, 1986
Artist
Tony Gleaton
(American, 1948-2015)
Date1986
MediumArchival inkjet print
DimensionsImage Size: 17 × 17 in. (43.2 × 43.2 cm)
Paper Size: 24 × 20 in. (61 × 50.8 cm)
Frame Size: 29 1/2 × 26 1/2 in. (74.9 × 67.3 cm)
ClassificationsPhotograph
Credit LineGift of Frances and William Gleaton, 2011
Object numberUAC4913
DescriptionLeo Antony “Tony” Gleaton was an African American photographer, artist, and scholar. He was born in Detroit on August 4, 1948. His mother left his father in 1959, and she and Gleaton moved to California. In 1967, Gleaton joined the US Marine Corps, where he first discovered his love for photography. He returned to California in 1970 and enrolled at UCLA under the GI bill. While his time in the Marine Corps helped him uncover his interest in the medium, a photography class at UCLA showed Gleaton that he was a talented photographer himself.He decided to leave UCLA and studied for a semester at the Arts Center School of Design in Los Angeles. Gleaton then moved to New York with a dream of becoming a fashion photographer. He lost interest in fashion and left New York in 1980 to hitchhike throughout the American West. While on his journey, Gleaton photographed cowboys, Native American ranch hands, and Black rodeo riders. His passion for the multicultural Southwest led to his travels to Mexico: beginning in 1981. Gleaton would travel throughout Mexican villages, photographing portraits of the residents. His subjects were often surprised that he wanted to photograph them. He sought to represent people of the African Diaspora in his work: a global community of people who are often underrepresented.
One of the subjects Gleaton captures are the Tres Hermanas, who he photographed in 1986 in Cuajinicuilapa, a town in the Mexican state of Guerrero. It is part of his series Tengo Casi 500 Años: Africa’s Legacy in Mexico, Central & South America. The black and white photograph shows three Afro-Latina sisters sitting together on a staircase smiling and laughing. While they are young and likely small in stature, Gleaton, who was about 6 foot 4 inches tall, lowers the camera, so the viewer is a bit lower than eye level with the sisters. This in turn gives the sisters a regal presence, as though the viewer is bowing down to three queens on their thrones. Oftentimes, camera lighting only caters to White faces and fails to capture the beauty of darker skin tones. However, the lighting of the photograph highlights the sisters’ beautiful dark skin and naturally curly hair. Given the prevalence of Eurocentric beauty standards all over the world, it is very powerful to see three young Black girls embracing their natural features and exuding so much confidence: especially since they may have witnessed the women in their lives taking measures, such as straightening their hair, to conform to Eurocentric standards.
Written by Angela Athnasios
Sources: Quin'nita F. Cobbins-Modica, "Tony Gleaton (1948-2015)," blackpast.org, Karen Grigsby Bates, "Tony Gleaton: Photographing The African Story Across The Americas," southcarolinapublicradio.org
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