NYC, only 4 spots left with @aaronbergerfoto and myself. Let’s run the streets together! Link in bio
NYC workshop with my boy @aaronbergerfoto coming up at the end of the month. Info at the link
I started playing basketball before I can even remember. Everybody knows growing up in the hood that’s where you earn your respect, you wasn’t getting on that court if you couldn’t hold your own. Ball was life, it was my first true love. When I stepped on that court nothing else existed. I didn’t realize it then, but now looking back I realize it was a way of expressing myself.. the bravado, the shit talking, picking up your teammates, the game IQ, going hard in practice - day in and day out. The constant beating on the craft. It was my first art form before I knew it. When my collegiate career came to an end in 2009 it felt as if I had nothing else to truly live for, there was a huge hole I didn’t know how to deal with. I stopped watching and playing ball, I didn’t want anything to do with it. I moved to NY in 2011 and shortly before I started toying around with a camera. The city turned my life upside down. I literally fell into photography, but damn I needed it so bad. The wins and losses and the journey in between was preparing for what was next - the journey of mastering myself, instead of focusing on an opponent. Thank God for this camera, with it I’m free.
I’m just getting back to NY thinking about the amazing time I had visiting my alma mater @buenavistauniversity . A place where so much growth and discovery happened for me. There I was a student athlete, won 2 conference championships playing basketball and got my degree in social work. It’s also where I met my best friend/wife @lpeopleswagner So much of my work is influenced from my time learning and growing there. The school acquired 6 of my pieces for their permanent collection and I was there on Monday speaking to students and faculty about my work and approach to the craft. For Lindsay and I to go back in this capacity is such a blessing 🙏🏾
I wrote a piece for @time about the legendary Gordon Parks and his influence on me and my path. Up now, link in bio. Thanks @katzandrew *Bushwick, Brooklyn 2016
Manhattan, 2017
Some of my work is being featured on @kodak’s page and I also spoke with them about my process on their podcast, check it out. This photograph is from Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn 2014
I sat down with @viceland to talk about some of my photography. Full video via link in my bio
Black History Month in today’s @nytimes Sunday Styles with the wordsmith @rembert
I’m back at it again with the wordsmith @rembert on our collaboration about Black History Month. Everyday Excellence up now in the @nytimes and in the Styles section of the paper tomorrow. Link in bio
Because Black history is always being made. I’m proud to partner with @HennessyUS to honor #BlackHistoryMonth with the Modern Black History Archive: a celebration of modern black creativity. Check out the full video on 2/15!
Tomorrow’s Leaders, Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn 2013 ✊🏾
In the introduction to her recent book, Listening to Images (2017), Tina M. Campt argues that quietness is a sonic methodology that provides a tool for contemplating the registers of the photograph. As she notes, “the quotidian is not equivalent to passive everyday acts, and quiet is not an absence of articulation or utterance.” That is, it’s not enough to see the image. Instead, we must also contend with what lives beyond the image, the world in which the image is located. Wagner’s Here for the Ride is a project of great care and skill from an artist who understands his role as a storyteller and attends the many utterances contained within his pictures. It’s a narrative of quiet wonder. - Words by @lynne_bias link in bio
16x20 silver gelatin print detail. will be on display in a museum in NY next month, more details soon...
Take the J Train. My good friend and art critic Jessica Lynn (@lynne_bias) wrote a really nice piece about my debut monograph, Here For The Ride, published by @creative_future . Up now on @aperturefnd website, link in bio 🙏🏾
Brooklyn, 2015.
Cobble Hill, Brooklyn - holiday series for @villagevoice