Clifford Prince King

Lives and works in Brooklyn, NY, USA

Artist statement

My work is part of an ongoing photographic series that looks at intimacy, connection, and the emotional lives of Black queer people. I’m interested in how desire, vulnerability, and care take shape in everyday moments—often unspoken, sometimes tense, but always charged with authenticity. My photographs exist somewhere between reality and construction are sometimes staged, but always stem from lived experiences, memories, and relationships that I am a part of. Many of the people I photograph are close to me—friends, collaborators, partners, people I trust and who trust me. That shared history matters. It shapes the energy in the room and shows up in the image. When creating portraiture, I’m drawn to the space between what’s shown and what’s withheld. I think there’s power in not giving everything away in the act of making an image. Especially for Black queer people, that kind of protection, that right to complexity, and an access to one’s own interiority in spiritual, mental, and emotional spaces, feels necessary for living. There’s a particular tone I return to again and again—soft lighting, warm palettes, minimal spaces. I’m drawn to environments that feel stripped down, but not cold. Bedrooms, bathrooms, small domestic interiors become a kind of stage for something more internal and contemplative. The nature of these spaces offers a sense of privacy that allows a person—when they’re present—to feel less like an object to be photographed and more like an essential aspect...

Artwork