Photographer Kennedi Carter (American, b.1998) creates lush images that celebrate beauty, the body, and Blackness. After honing her skills as a celebrated editorial fashion photographer working with British Vogue, Essence, Vanity Fair, and the New York Times, Carter’s fine art practice explores the aesthetics of the Black quotidian, capturing the unexpected, unknown, and unimaginable slices of life that she finds tucked away in the corners of society we often overlook.

From cowboys in her Ridin’ Sucka Free (2019) series to boudoir beauties in her Black pin ups archive, Carter reflects a timeless style that speaks to history while also reinventing it into something new. In a piece titled Malana and her Horse (2020), a young girl in a white dress crouches barefoot on the back of a horse. In her trusting stance she appears poised to stand tall upon the horse's back, and in this particular moment, Carter manages to capture the precise moment where a dream emerges and floats to the surface.