CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 8/23/2025

A meditation on the multifaceted work of Essex Hemphill and the community of artists in his sphere

In this intimate shot between dear friends, the seminal, magnetic force of the interdisciplinary artist Essex Hemphill (1957–1995) is rendered clearly by the lens of his esteemed contemporary, Lyle Ashton Harris. Housed within the catalog Essex Hemphill: Take care of your blessings, it follows the eponymous exhibition of Hemphill’s work at the Philips Collection, in the city and scene in which he worked and which impacted him the most, Washington, D.C. Like the exhibition, the book takes in the politically rich, startlingly raw and refreshingly personal writing of Hemphill as a touchstone for visual artists who both knew and worked with the poet, performer, editor and activist—including Harris, Sharon Farmer, Isaac Julien, Clifford Price King and Glenn Ligon, among many more. The book collects a concise but powerful group of salient works that take on race, community, culture, sexuality and love grounded in the turbulence of living and loving through the AIDS crisis. Featuring rare poems from Hemphill (printed on small newsprint pages bound in as if they were notes from the man himself), reflections from scholars and literary figures, and artworks and ephemera bearing Hemphill’s influence, this clothbound flexi with stitched spine offers a unique cross-section of arts, activism and community from a pivotal time in both queer and Black creative history.