Tyler Mitchell - Episode 102

Nov 27, 2025

Tyler Mitchell, a groundbreaking artist and photographer, shares his journey from skateboarding in Atlanta to reimagining narratives of Black beauty and desire. He discusses his innovative book, Wish This Was Real, emphasizing the importance of collaboration in his creative work. Tyler reflects on the power of beauty and formalism in engaging viewers with political ideas and shares insights on his immersive exhibition techniques. His approach ties personal Southern experiences to global perspectives, celebrating joy while acknowledging historical context.

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ANECDOTE

Suburban Roots Shaped His View

Tyler Mitchell grew up in Marietta, a suburban Atlanta environment that shaped his sense of identity and relation to race.
He describes his family as entrepreneurial rather than artistic, which influenced his planning-oriented approach to making work.

ANECDOTE

Skateboarding Sparked Visual Practice

Skateboarding became Tyler's entry into creativity and community outside his school context.
He quickly preferred filming skateboarding and that practice led him toward filmmaking and photography.

ANECDOTE

Cuba Book Kickstarted His Career

A 2015 trip to Havana produced a self-published book of 200 copies that launched Tyler's editorial work.
That book drew attention from Dazed and led to commissions exploring Black masculinity in fashion.

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In this episode of PhotoWork with Sasha Wolf, artist, photographer, and filmmaker Tyler Mitchell joins Sasha to discuss his Aperture book, Wish This Was Real. Tyler speaks candidly about learning by doing, the value of taking risks, and the creative rewards that follow. He and Sasha also explore the central role of collaboration in his practice, particularly how that ethos shapes his approach to building tableaux.

https://www.tylermitchell.co

https://www.tylermitchell.co/books/wish-this-was-real-book

Tyler Mitchell (b. 1995, Atlanta, GA) is an artist, photographer, and filmmaker based in Brooklyn. He received a BFA in Film and Television from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts in 2017. Mitchell’s work reimagines narratives of Black beauty and desire, embracing history while envisioning fictionalized moments of an aspirational future. His photographs and films present Black life through themes of play, empowerment, and self-determination.

Mitchell’s work is held in numerous public and private collections, including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; High Museum of Art, Atlanta; Brooklyn Museum; Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA); Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C.; and FOAM Fotografiemuseum, Amsterdam, among others.

He has presented exhibitions internationally, including The New Black Vanguard (Aperture Gallery, New York); I Can Make You Feel Good (FOAM, Amsterdam; ICP, New York); Chrysalis (Gagosian, London); Domestic Imaginaries (SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah); and Idyllic Space (High Museum of Art, Atlanta). His European touring exhibition, Wish This Was Real (C/O Berlin, 2024), brought together a decade of work exploring Black beauty, leisure, and imagination, traveling to Helsinki, Lausanne, and concluding at the Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris (2025–26). Mitchell’s photography has appeared in Aperture, Dazed, i-D, Vogue, Vanity Fair, WSJ, and Zeit Magazin, alongside collaborations with Gucci, Loewe, Ferragamo, and JW Anderson.