Photographer Ming Smith’s groundbreaking practice embraces spontaneous rhythms, experimentation, and the influences of dance and music. Ming Smith: Jazz Requiem – Notations in Blue traces her groundbreaking practice from the 1970s to the present, including her formative years traveling throughout Europe, examining how these experiences shape her practice. The photographs on view—many printed for the first time—aim to capture the intricacies of Black experience, within and beyond specific places, and demonstrate her elusive yet poignant depictions of soon-vanishing qualities of a moment in movement.  Throughout her artwork, the artist embodies a central tenet of the Black Arts Movement: “owning the images that we saw of ourselves.” Smith’s practice extends beyond realism and documentation: she actively confronts notions of the gaze and power inherent to photography. Through experimentation and visual meditations, Smith positions herself as a vanguard, pursuing image-making as a way to remember, share, and deeply feel the world around her.