This presentation is available to view as a recording here or at the end of this article.

“The Black Image Center (BIC) was founded in the summer of 2020 and opened in the Culver City Arts District in 2022. Conceived during the pandemic, it was a time when we were seeing Black pain captured by non-Black photographers. BIC was born out of a desire to put indigenous, Black storytelling tools back in the hands of our own community. Today, Black Image Center is a 501(c3) committed to uplifting LA’s Black storytellers through community, educational offerings, and job opportunities. Through our programming, we establish pipelines to the creative industry and build ongoing legacies by preserving LA’s Black history.”

Maya June Mansour, the speaker at PHSNE’s May 2024 online meeting, is a photographer and producer with roots in Black America and the Middle East. Her work, primarily using analog photography, explores themes of spirituality and justice. Mansour’s self portraiture practice engages her background as both a photographer and a model, and investigates the relationship between identity and healing. Mansour has collaborated with Participant Media, Converse, the Getty, For Freedoms, Collective for Black Iranians, and more. In 2022 she was awarded a Goole Image Equality Fellowship which “aims to support the next generation of image-makers of color.” 

Mansour is one of the cofounders of BIC which she describes as “a community photography space in Los Angeles County that redistributes storytelling resources from the creative and entertainment industries in Hollywood to LA’s Black residents.” One article describes it as “a space where Black artists can come to stimulate their imaginations through photography, and one that can provide resources for their economic empowerment” (Hyperallergic article by Joshua Oduga).