Celebrating a new wave of contemporary imagemakers, Antwaun Sargent’s new book features 15 of the best emerging photographers – all black, all brilliant – whose work comfortably straddles the line between art and fashion, and who are defining fresh perspectives on representation, beauty and the body. This is The New Black Vanguard.

The beautiful tome is brimming with some of Nataal favourite contributors such as Nadine Ijewere (who shot our issue two magazine cover), Ruth Ossai, Arielle Bobb-Willis and Namsa Leuba – all four of whom have shown as part of Nataal’s New African Photography group exhibitions at Red Hook Labs, Brooklyn. Other Nataal alumni include Daniel Obasi, Stephen Tayo, Tyler Mitchell and Micaiah Carter. In addition rising stars Campbell Addy, Awol Erizku, Quil Lemons, Renell Medrano, Jamal Nxedlana, Adrienne Raquel and Dana Scruggs all make the cut. The book also gives space to a series of illuminating conversations between these artists and big hitters Shaniqwa Jarvis, Mickalene Thomas and Deborah Willis.

In his opening essay, Sargent unpacks the history of black photography, the power of the fashion image in contemporary culture, and the shocking lack of representation even in these times of increased diversity in the creative industry. The writer and critic notes that while it was a landmark moment when Mitchell became the first, and youngest, African American photographer to shoot a Vogue cover last year, why has it take this long? Now, more than ever, the influence that comes with ownership of images that go on to shape ideas around identity is at a tipping point. In short, there is a new gaze, and it’s dazzling in its multiplicity.

Sargent writes:

“The narratives their work generate are wholly new visions of the glamorous black figure, realized through their eyes with a beauty and diversity that allows their models to tell many different stories through fashion. Their images consider the construction and deconstruction of the body as it relates to identity through dress; they also address what it means to depict bodies, in fashion, that have once been invisible in the industry. These black-produced images carve out space for black beauty, a long-contested notion in the mainstream that is known fact before the lens of a black photographer. The images also serve to complicate and contradict conventional notions of beauty by presenting fluid and intersectional identities.”

The New Black Vanguard: Photography Between Art and Fashion by Antwaun Sargent is published by Aperture. Learn more about it here