Black Male / White Male [Paperback]

Rotimi Fani-Kayode (Photographer), Alex Hirst (Introduction)

Product Details

• Paperback: 90 pages
• Publisher: Heretic Books; 1st edition (December 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0854490809
• ISBN-13: 978-0854490806
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,979,595 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars not impressed, August 28, 2004

By 

Jeffery Mingo (Homewood, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Black Male / White Male (Paperback)

I was first introduced to Rotimi's work by the praises Kobena Mercer gave it in the his book "Welcome to the Jungle." Like many black gay artists, Rotimi's work responds to the fetishizing work in R. Mapplethorpe's "Black Book." However, this photo book is not inspiring. There are much better responses to Mapplethorpe out there than this. (Essex Hemphill's poem in "Looking for Langston" for example.)

There's a long history of gay photographers showing black men and white men in homoerotic poses together. With Rotimi's title, you would think he's doing the same thing. First off, few if not none of the works here show black men and white men together here. Secondly, the book is about 90% black men. He should have titled this book "Black Men with a Few White Guys for Novelty." I really think the title is meant to lure in the white purchaser of his work, rather than truly centering black men as artistic subjects.

Finally, the photos are not that great. One photo could be described as an insult to Mother Africa. Just because black men are being portrayed doesn't make the work transgressive. I was deeply disappointed in this book. I predict than many others will be too.

5.0 out of 5 stars Simple and lovely photos, February 12, 2007

By 

DONALD G. FOX "Santee Sioux" (Minneapolis, MN USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Black Male / White Male (Paperback)

The photos in this book are indeed mostly of black men. I was pleased with the thoughtful compositions and hadn't really thought that this was Rotini Fani-Kayhoda's response to Mapplethorpe's work. By themselves, the photos are striking and sometimes very simple. As a person who is simplistic enough to simply like photos for what they are, I think that this is a successful collection.