“We had just witnessed the murder of George Floyd. It could have been me. In many ways, I was photographing my own trauma,” says Misan Harriman of capturing the Black Lives Matter demonstrations on camera in London five years ago.
“The world was coming out of lockdown and we witnessed one of the biggest civil rights movements of our time. I was proud of this country. We came out, all colours, all races, and we said: ‘We can do better.’”
Harriman’s photographs caught the eye of then British Vogue editor Edward Enninful, who commissioned him to shoot the illustrious September cover of the magazine. It made Harriman, 47, a Nigerian-born British activist, the first black man to photograph the cover of British Vogue in its 104-year history.
His first solo exhibition, The Purpose of Light, at Hope 93 gallery in London captures powerful stories of activism and resistance.
“I’m 47 and have the privilege of having a platform,” he says. “I have to use it to make the world gentler and kinder. I have two little girls, and I want to look them in the eye and say I fought tooth and nail with my camera and my voice to allow them to inherit a better world.”
See some of these images in this week’s Big Issue. Also, we talk about what Gen Z protest looks like, and look into the proscription of Palestine Action.
