Untitled, from the series "The Garage" (1970-80)

Mikki Ferrill began her career as a photojournalist after studying graphic design and illustration at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and photographed for Ebony magazine throughout the 1970s. Her work was also included in the first volume of the Black Photographers Annual (1973), a seminal publication created by members of the Kamoinge Workshop to showcase a range of black photographic practices; over the course of its four-issue run, the publication would feature James Van Der Zee, Roy DeCarava, and Dawoud Bey, in addition to many lesser-known photographers. In her photographs of dancers in 1970s Chicago, Ferrill suggests her relaxed relationship to her subjects, candidly capturing their easy rapport with the photographer and one another.