Radcliffe Roye (born 1969), known professionally as Ruddy Roye is a Jamaican documentary photographer specializing in photojournalism, including editorial and environmental portraits.[1] Roye is a member of the black photographer collective Kamoinge, and was featured in the 2014 documentary Through a Lens Darkly: Black Photographers and the Emergence of a People. Roye was listed among Complex's "50 Greatest Street Photographers Right Now" in 2014,[2] and Time honoured him as its Instagram Photographer of 2016.[3]

Ruddy Roye
Born
Radcliffe Roye

(1969-12-12) 12 December 1969 (age 54)
EducationGoucher College (BA)
Occupation
  • Photographer
Years active2000–present
Websiteruddyroye.com

Early life and education

edit

Roye was born in Montego Bay, Jamaica, in 1969. At an early age, his mother, Dorcas Leonie Roye, encouraged him to read and participate in speech, drama, and music.[4] At Herbert Morrison Technical High, he participated in band under Snick Glenn and enjoyed his time as a musician.[4] In an interview, Roye stated that if he has not become a photographer, he "would be a writer, a musician, or a professor in that order".[5] He immigrated to the United States in 1990.[4] In 1998, Roye graduated from Goucher College with a bachelor's in English literature where he studied writing and the visual arts.[4][6][7] He relocated to Brooklyn, New York, in 2000.[8]

Career

edit

Journalism

edit

Roye honed his skill as a photojournalist by working as an Associated Press stringer[further explanation needed] in New York while covering journalism events.[citation needed] He has since worked with publications including The New York Times,[9] Fast Company[10] and BET,[11] Ebony, ESPN Magazine, and Essence.

Roye is also known for documenting Dancehall culture across the world, having traveled as far as Brazzaville in the Congo to document how Jamaicans and other dancers use the language of dance as a tool of activism.[citation needed]

In October 2012, Roye was asked to take over The New Yorker's Instagram account in the wake of Hurricane Sandy.[12][13][14][15] He has also showcased Bed-Stuy (and Brooklyn as a whole) with his 'Black Portraiture' or 'I Can't Breathe' series on Instagram.

Roye has experimented with interpretative photography, preferring to allow the abstract content within the frame to dictate the voice and purpose of the image. His "Elements" series focuses on "pictorialism", and the blurry picture is said to be his way of transmitting graphic and emotionally raw imagery.[citation needed]

In 2022 Ruddy Roye was named "Artist-in-residence" for the year at the Cleveland Print Room in Cleveland Ohio where he now currently resides.[16]

Academic work

edit

Roye has taught at New York University, the School of Visual Arts, and Columbia University, engaging in conversations with photography students on the rise of Instagram and the changing face of photojournalism.[17][18] Some of his work has been contextualized as engaging in the conversation of race in policing and the justice system.[19][1]

Exhibitions

edit
  • "When Living is a Protest" Silber Gallery, Goucher College – Towson, Maryland, May 2018[20]
  • "When Living is a Protest"[21] Photoville Brooklyn New York, September 2015 and Steven Kasher Gallery, New York, September 2016.
  • "Dandy Lion"[22] – (Re) Articulating Black Masculine Identity- group show – Silver Eye Center for Photography, Pittsburgh, September 18 – November 14, 2015 – MOCP Chicago, April – July 2015
  • "Pictures from Paradise"[23] – Group show – Scotiabank Contact Photography Festival- Toronto, May 2014
  • Ruddy Roye Solo show[24] – Vermont Feick Fine Arts Center, Green Mountain College, January 2014
  • "The New street types of New York"[25] – Alice Austen House – Staten Island New York, July 2013
  • "Nigga Beach"[26] – National Biennial Exhibition at the National Gallery, Jamaica, December 2012
  • "J'ouvert"[27] CaribBeing:Portraits of Carnival – MoCADA, Brooklyn New York, September 2012
  • "J'ouvert"[28] – ARTspeak – City Gallery at Chastain Arts Centre – Atlanta, July 2012

References

edit
  1. ^ a b "Giving Visibility to the Invisible: An Interview With Photographer Ruddy Roye". Longreads. February 12, 2015. Retrieved December 15, 2018.
  2. ^ Wood, Jennifer (January 15, 2014). "The 50 Greatest Street Photographers Right Now". Complex. Archived from the original on October 16, 2014. Retrieved November 22, 2024.
  3. ^ "Here is TIME's Instagram Photographer of 2016". Time. Retrieved January 4, 2018.
  4. ^ a b c d Barrett, Rachael (December 27, 2016). "Radcliffe Roye: Capturing a a people in Time". Jamaica Observer. Retrieved January 5, 2018.
  5. ^ "Powerful Portraits Tell the Stories of Black America". November 8, 2016. Archived from the original on November 12, 2016. Retrieved January 5, 2018.
  6. ^ "Radcliffe "Ruddy" Roye '98 – Goucher Magazine". Goucher Magazine. October 16, 2015. Retrieved January 4, 2018.
  7. ^ "Radcliffe Ruddy Roye". Look3. Retrieved January 5, 2018.
  8. ^ Richardson, Whitney (June 26, 2013). "Bringing Invisible Stories to Instagram Followers". The New York Times. Retrieved December 15, 2018.
  9. ^ Sternbergh, Adam (February 1, 2018). "The Post-Hope Politics of 'House of Cards'". The New York Times.
  10. ^ "While fashion week wraps up at..." Fast Company.
  11. ^ "A Taste of Summer: 15 Must-Go Events". BET.
  12. ^ "Sandy in New York: Radcliffe Roye on Instagram". The New Yorker. October 29, 2012. Retrieved November 22, 2024.
  13. ^ Rosenbaum, Lisa (July 15, 2014). "Extreme Exercise and the Heart". Newyorker.com.
  14. ^ "This Week". Newyorker.com. July 20, 2014.
  15. ^ "Taking a Walk With Ruddy Roye, Instagram Activist". American Photo. Retrieved December 15, 2018.
  16. ^ "Cleveland Print Room on Instagram: "The Print Room names Ruddy Roye as 2022 Artist -in-Residence. Ruddy is our first ever yearlong AIR recipient. A new resident to Cleveland, Roye brings his expertise to the Print Room residency in honor of our collaboration that dates back to 2017. Named in 2020 as one of the National Geographic storytelling fellows and a recent Cleveland Foundation Equity in the Arts recipient, Roye will share a studio space with CPR and begin a salon in efforts to build community through photography."".
  17. ^ "13 images that show Afropunk Fest's power". Ew.com.
  18. ^ "Ruddy Roye from Iraqi Kurdistan: Among the Names of the Dead". Readingthepictures.org. May 21, 2013.
  19. ^ O'Molloy, Colm. "Ruddy Roye, Instagram photographer". BBC News. Retrieved December 15, 2018.
  20. ^ Harris, Tyler (May 21, 2018). "Ruddy Roye's When Living is a Protest @ Silber Gallery". The Goucher Eye. Retrieved July 16, 2018.
  21. ^ "When Living is a Protest - Photoville". Archived from the original on September 13, 2015. Retrieved October 9, 2015.
  22. ^ "Dandy Lion: (Re)Articulating Black Masculine Identity - Museum of Contemporary Photography". Mocp.org.
  23. ^ "Scotiabank CONTACT Photography FestivalPictures from Paradise: A Survey of Contemporary Caribbean Photography". Archived from the original on September 12, 2015. Retrieved October 9, 2015.
  24. ^ "Ruddy Roye". Seven Days.
  25. ^ "THE NEW STREET TYPES OF NEW YORK - Alice Austen House". Aliceausten.org.
  26. ^ Limited, Jamaica Observer. "Pictures with purpose". Jamaica Observer. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  27. ^ ""Portraits of Carnival" featuring Ray Llanos & Ruddy Roye". Arcthemagazine.com.
  28. ^ "ARTSpeak: Radcliffe Roye's J'ouvert at City Gallery at Chastain - BURNAWAY". Burnaway.org.
edit