Bio:

Chip Moody was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. Best known for his black-and-white photographs featuring portraits and interior scenes of Black life. He completed his BFA at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2011. Moody was awarded an Arts and Culture Leader of Color inaugural fellow with Americans For the Arts (2019-2020). Often when images of Black people are created they are presented as characters or stereotypes across the broad social spectrum of morality. He seeks to convey Black humanity (outside of that spectrum) in spaces that have persisted through Black autonomy and agency creating images that resonate with the multitude of Black experience. Showcasing specifically Black love and Black culture on its own terms he admires, values, and interrogates his own culture challenging preconceived notions of Blackness. Decentralizing the nature of the “Black" experience is a goal of his work and pre-existing narratives serve as the starting points for his image making process. Moody has received the prestigious Welch Fellowship while pursuing his MFA in the Ernest G. Welch School of Art & Design at Georgia State University.

Show statement:

Often when images of Black people are created they are presented as characters or stereotypes across the broad social spectrum of morality. I seek to convey Black humanity outside of that spectrum showcasing  Black experiences on their own terms. As I admire, value, and interrogate my own culture I continue to be challenged by our history. Expanding the nature of the “Black" experience is a goal of my work and pre-existing narratives serve as starting points for my photographic image making process. I seek to interrogate the how images of Black people and culture are shown in the western photographic canon. Through the domestic I index experiences that allow for a more wholistic view on what a Black life or experience can look like.