We’re still reveling in the greatness that is Queen Bey’s historic Vogue cover. While she’s been on the cover of the 126-year-old magazine before, Knowles made history by hiring photographer Tyler Mitchell as the first black person to ever shoot a cover of the famed magazine.
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At 23 years old, Mitchell is the youngest person to have ever shot a Vogue cover, according to The Cut, but he’s been around for a while. After graduating with a film degree from NYU, Mitchell has worked on several Condé Nast shoots, photographed director Spike Lee, rapper Lil Uzi Vert, actress Zazie Beetz, and another queen, Solange Knowles.
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This position has been a long time coming for Mitchell who captured a glamorous yet natural Knowles just outside London, and he recognizes the statement made with his inauguration into a select group of famed photographers.
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“For so long, black people have been considered things,” said the Marietta, Georgia native in a Vogue interview. “We’ve been thingified physically, sexually, emotionally. With my work I’m looking to revitalize and elevate the black body.”
Part of a new generation of photographers gaining fame through social awareness and social media, Mitchell is helping to change how we see the world, and he’s just getting started with Queen Bey.
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“There was a ladder for the people who came before me, and there’s a ladder now—it’s just a new ladder,” said Mitchell. “I want to open the eyes of the kids younger than me, show them that they can do this too.”
