Devin Allen
{{short description|American photographer, photojournalist, and activist}}
Devin Allen is an American photographer, photojournalist, and activist based in Baltimore, Maryland. He gained national attention after the Freddie Gray protests in 2015, when his documentary photograph entitled "Baltimore Uprising" was published as Time magazine's May 2015 cover photo. His documentary photo of the George Floyd protests was published as Time{{'}}s June 2020 cover.{{Cite web |last=Beyram |first=Seyma |date=January 16, 2023 |title=How one photographer is using his camera as a weapon against poverty and racism |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/pictureshow/2023/01/16/1139546697/devin-allen-against-poverty-racism-discrimination |access-date=January 16, 2023 |website=National Public Radio}}
Allen's photographs are held in the Smithsonian collection of the National Museum of African American History and Culture.{{Cite web|title=A beautiful ghetto / Devin Allen|url=https://www.si.edu/object/siris_sil_1098581|access-date=2020-10-31|website=Smithsonian Institution|language=en}}
Career
=''Baltimore Uprising'' and other projects (2015–2019)=
Allen gained national attention and media prominence after the 2015 protests following the death of Freddie Gray. {{Cite news |last=Rizzo |first=Carita |date=May 23, 2022 |title=He believes photography can save kids' lives. After all, it saved his. |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/magazine/2022/05/23/photographer-inspires-youth-baltimore/ |access-date=May 23, 2022 |newspaper=The Washington Post}}{{Cite magazine |title=The Story Behind TIME's George Floyd Protest Cover |url=https://time.com/5851623/time-cover-devin-allen-george-floyd-protests/ |access-date=2023-01-19 |magazine=Time |language=en}} However, Allen shared his first protest photographs a year later, following the police killing of Michael Brown, an 18-year old black-male resident of Ferguson, Missouri on August 9, 2014. {{Cite web |last=Levenson |first=Alta Spells,Eric |date=2020-08-10 |title=Protesters gather outside Ferguson Police Department on anniversary of Michael Brown's death |url=https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/10/us/ferguson-protests-michael-brown/index.html |access-date=2023-01-19 |website=CNN |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Rosenbaum |first=Jason |date=August 9, 2019 |title=5 Years After Michael Brown Shooting, Slow Signs Of Progress |url=https://www.npr.org/2019/08/09/748351764/5-years-after-michael-brown-shooting-slow-signs-of-progress |access-date=August 9, 2019 |website=National Public Radio}} The murder sparked protests across the neighborhood where the incident took place. {{Cite web |last=Lopez |first=German |date=2015-05-31 |title=What were the 2014 Ferguson protests about? |url=https://www.vox.com/2015/5/31/17937764/ferguson-missouri-protests-2014-michael-brown-police-shooting |access-date=2023-01-19 |website=Vox |language=en}}
After the death of Freddie Gray on April 12, 2015,{{Cite web |last=Chang |first=Ailsa |author-link=Ailsa Chang |date=April 24, 2020 |title=Freddie Gray's Death, 5 Years Later |url=https://www.npr.org/2020/04/24/844562979/freddie-grays-death-baltimore-five-years-later |access-date=April 24, 2020 |website=National Public Radio}} Allen—who grew up five minutes from where the Baltimore police murdered Freddie Gray—documented the protests and posted his subsequent photos on Instagram. Across three weeks of the protests, Allen took around 10,000 photos.{{Cite news|title='A Beautiful Ghetto': The powerful photographic vision of a kid from the 'hood|language=en-US|newspaper=The Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/a-beautiful-ghetto-the-powerful-photographic-vision-of-a-kid-from-the-hood/2016/02/29/394c0e34-df26-11e5-8d98-4b3d9215ade1_gallery.html|access-date=2020-10-31|issn=0190-8286}} His images capturing the protests went viral and were covered by the BBC,{{Cite news|date=2015-04-28|title=The amateur photographer capturing the story of the #BaltimoreRiots|language=en-GB|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-32497921|access-date=2020-10-31}} The Washington Post,{{Cite news|last=Kennicott|first=Philip|date=2016-02-26|title=A young photographer made the Baltimore Uprising unforgettable|language=en-US|newspaper=The Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/museums/a-young-photographer-made-the-baltimore-uprising-unforgettable/2016/02/26/88fc7d94-dbff-11e5-891a-4ed04f4213e8_story.html|access-date=2020-10-31|issn=0190-8286}} The New York Times , and others.
A photo Allen took of the protests on April 25, 2015 was chosen as Time magazine's May 2015 cover, making Allen the third amateur photographer to be featured on the cover of Time. The photograph, titled Baltimore Uprising, shows a man running away from a pack of charging police officers in the city of Baltimore. After Allen uploaded the photograph from his camera to his phone, it took him several hours to realize the photograph had gone viral, as he had continued photographing the protests until after dark that evening.
In 2015, building off his recent media attention from Time magazine, Allen launched "Through Their Eyes", a youth program that teaches photography to Baltimore city school students, specifically those from districts with underfunded arts education programs. The program includes giving cameras to students, as well as organizing educational workshops and art exhibitions of student work. {{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title="A Beautiful Ghetto" A New Photography Exhibition by 2017 Fellowship Recipient Devin Allen|url=https://www.gordonparksfoundation.org/attachment/en/548b3beaaa921a8b5be4cbcc/Publication/58822843ced750fb4f8b4567|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210412072533/https://www.gordonparksfoundation.org/attachment/en/548b3beaaa921a8b5be4cbcc/Publication/58822843ced750fb4f8b4567 |archive-date=2021-04-12 |access-date=2020-10-30|website=The Gordon Parks Foundation}}
In 2016, Allen's photography exhibit "A Beautiful Ghetto" was held at the Gallery Slought. In 2017, Allen published his first photography book as a coffee table book titled A Beautiful Ghetto.{{cite web |last1=Owens |first1=Donna |title='A Beautiful Ghetto': Devin Allen's Images Proclaim Baltimore Resilience |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/beautiful-ghetto-devin-allen-s-images-proclaim-baltimore-resilience-n795896 |website=NBC News |accessdate=31 October 2020 |language=en |date=August 28, 2017}} The book was nominated for the 49th NAACP Image Awards in the category of "Outstanding Literary Work – Debut Author".{{cite web |title=Nominees Announced for 49th NAACP Image Awards |url=https://www.naacp.org/latest/nominees-announced-49th-naacp-image-awards/ |website=NAACP |accessdate=31 October 2020 |language=en |date=20 November 2017 |archive-date=8 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308133956/https://www.naacp.org/latest/nominees-announced-49th-naacp-image-awards/ |url-status=dead }}
Allen was selected as the first recipient of the Gordon Parks Foundation Fellowship in 2017. The Fellowship supported the continuation of his "Through Their Eyes" project.{{cite web |title=Devin Allen - 2017 Fellowship Recipient |url=https://www.gordonparksfoundation.org/foundation/fellowships/devin-allen |website=The Gordon Parks Foundation |accessdate=31 October 2020}}
=George Floyd protests (2020–present)=
After the murder of George Floyd, a Black American killed during arrest by a white police officer named Derek Chauvin,{{Cite news |last=Barker |first=Kim |date=2020-06-27 |title=The Black Officer Who Detained George Floyd Had Pledged to Fix the Police |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/27/us/minneapolis-police-officer-kueng.html |access-date=2023-01-19 |issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite web |last=Andone |first=Dakin |date=2020-05-28 |title=Surveillance video does not support police claims that George Floyd resisted arrest |url=https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/28/us/video-george-floyd-contradict-resist-trnd/index.html |access-date=2023-01-19 |website=CNN |language=en}} Allen attended a Baltimore protest on June 5, 2020 organized by demonstrators representing the city's Black transgender community. At the protest, he captured a photograph that was featured on the cover of Time magazine. The photograph shows a protester sitting with a megaphone, while other demonstrators lie down on the ground.
In July 2020, Allen was selected as a Leica Ambassador.{{Cite web|last=Andy Day|date=2020-07-10|title=Leica Adds Devin Allen, a Gordon Parks Foundation Fellow, to Its Ambassadors|url=https://fstoppers.com/news/leica-adds-devin-allen-gordon-parks-foundation-fellow-its-ambassadors-498805|access-date=2020-10-31|website=Fstoppers|language=en}}
Personal life
Allen was born and raised in West Baltimore. As of 2020, Allen is still active in the Baltimore community and says that his goal when documenting events like the protests is to make sure he tells the whole story.
According to a report on National Public Radio (NPR), Devin Allen received his first camera as a gift from his grandmother in 2013. It was a Canon camera that she bought on credit from Best Buy, as per NPR.
References
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External links
- {{Instagram|bydvnlln| Devin Allen }}
- {{cite web |title=Devin Allen's work in the Smithsonian Collection |url=https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/collection/search?edan_q=*:*&edan_fq[]=p.edanmdm.indexedstructured.name:%22Allen,+Devin%22&op=Search |website=National Museum of African American History and Culture |accessdate=20 June 2020 |language=en}}
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Category:Activists from Baltimore
Category:Photographers from Maryland
Category:American photojournalists
Category:African-American photographers