The Supper Club
The Supper Club, a multi-faceted art project that has brought together contemporary artists of color and other cultural producers, from the United States through portraiture, food, and dialogue. Initiated in 2012, Alba began photographing contemporary visual artists of color in widely varied locations and forms of dress in order to reflect their unique artistic voices, embody their art and transform their identities into archetypal portraits. Combining the visual vocabulary of contemporary fashion photography and art history, Alba’s portraits underscore the interplay among persona, politics and aesthetics in much of contemporary art. In tandem with the portraits, Alba has hosted thematic dinner conversations which have brought together artists, scholars and performers of diverse diasporic cultures to examine race and culture in the United States, addressing issues of agency, race, the role of artists and audience. Both an exhibition and book published by Hirmer Verlag in 2019, The Supper Club serves as a critical historical archive of the last decade, documenting African Americans, Latin Americans, Latino/a/x/e, Africans, South Asians, and Caribbean cultural producers in dialogue as they weigh in on the enduring power of art, food, and conversation in our everyday lives.