Creativity Lab: Make a Portrait invites you to explore creativity in front of and behind the camera through an artist-designed portrait studio. Inspired by the exhibition Ideas of Africa: Portraiture and Political Imagination in Africa, create your own portrait using photography, creative prompts, and a library of photobooks. Join us for workshops to connect with artists about topics like photography, community, and archival practices. Creativity Lab: Make a Portrait is co-organized with the collective Souls in Focus.
Souls in Focus is a New York City–based, community-driven visual artist collective and creative agency. Since their inception in 2018, they’ve built a strong community of thinkers, creators, educators, and community organizers. Their values—inspire, educate, connect—are deeply rooted in watering their communities through photography, creative collaboration, and sustaining meaningful networks across the city and beyond.
Henry Danner is a photographer and visual storyteller committed to using his camera as a tool to influence change. He uses the techniques of street photography, documentary photography, and photojournalism to highlight the poetic nature of everyday life, display the strengths of communities, and share stories that heal. His work focuses on various aspects of Black identity while highlighting themes related to social justice, criminal justice, youth development, education, and community development. Danner is a cofounder of the visual artist collective Souls in Focus.
Naeem Douglas is an Emmy-nominated journalist, writer, and photographer. He’s also a content producer at MoMA, where he writes and edits articles and takes photographs for MoMA Magazine.
Lauren von Eckartsberg is a photographer, community organizer, and educator whose work explores themes of identity, collective experience, and nostalgia. She is an alumna of the International Center of Photography and has served as the education and community engagement director of the photography collective and creative agency Souls in Focus.
Sade Fasanya is a Nigerian-American photographer, educator, community builder, and cofounder of the visual artist collective Souls in Focus. Working across digital and analog mediums, her practice centers on identity, expression, African diasporic communities, and the visual language of everyday urban life. Fasanya’s works move fluidly across the photographic genres of portraiture, street photography, and social documentation.
Kedrick Walker is a photographer and multimedia designer living and working in Brooklyn. Over the past 10 years, he has been fascinated and informed by the intersection of design, photography, technology, and culture. Through intentional design and storytelling, Walker aims to broaden conversations around the experiences of Black/LGBTQIA+ communities.
Natiah "Tiah" Jones is a storyteller, marketer, and cofounder of Souls in Focus. She helps people and brands tell stories through meaningful visual art and purpose-driven marketing strategies built off of human connection. Tiah has led brand marketing efforts for independent creative houses, advertising agencies, tech start-ups, global media and entertainment companies.
Accessibility
In order to serve visitors with hearing loss, the Crown Creativity Lab includes induction hearing loops for sound amplification. Visitors can turn their hearing aid or cochlear implant to T-coil mode to hear enhanced sound effortlessly. The loop system does not work with hearing aids without telecoil technology.
All-gender restrooms are located on Floors 1, 3W, 5, and T1.
American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation and live captioning is available for public programs upon request with two weeks’ advance notice. MoMA will make every effort to provide accommodation for requests made with less than two weeks’ notice. Please contact [[email protected]] to make a request for these accommodations.
The entrance to the Creativity Lab has a power-assist door. Seating options include chairs with backs.
For more information on accessibility at MoMA, please visit moma.org/Access. For accessibility questions or accommodation requests, please email [email protected].
The Crown Creativity Lab is a participatory space activated by local partner organizations, artists, and MoMA visitors. Each project is inspired by art on view and invites creativity, personal reflection, and exchange with others. The Creativity Lab is intended for all visitors. We cannot accommodate groups larger than five people.
