Black Lives Matter photographer becomes Southbank Centre Chair

Misan Harriman, who only took up photography four years ago,
now leads Britain’s largest art centre

A former City headhunter turned photographer who took one of the defining pictures from last year’s Black Lives Matter protests in London has been appointed chair of Britain’s largest arts centre.

Misan Harriman is to succeed Susan Gilchrist as chair of trustees at the Southbank Centre, it was announced on Thursday.

In June, Harriman photographed 18-year-old protester Darcy Bourne with a banner which simply asked: “Why is ending racism a debate?”

The image went viral after being shared by figures including the Vogue editor, Edward Enninful, the athlete Dina Asher-Smith, the racing car driver Lewis Hamilton, and Martin Luther King III.

Enninful described Harriman as the “voice that was missing” and commissioned him to be the first black man to shoot the cover of British Vogue, taking portrait photographs of activists including the footballer Marcus Rashford and the model and mental health campaigner Adwoa Aboah.

Misan Harriman’s picture of Darcy Bourne. Photograph: Misan Harriman

Harriman approached Sotheby’s about selling the first print of the Darcy Bourne image to raise money for the Anthony Nolan blood cancer charity. It sold for £10,000, more than double the estimate.

Magazine covers #ShotbyMisan.

His stratospheric rise as a photographer was all the more remarkable in that he only took up photography about four years ago. His wife gave him a camera as a present for his 39th birthday and he taught himself using YouTube videos.

It was something of a calling, he told the Guardian. At school “when most boys were talking about football I was talking about the lighting in [the Stanley Kubrick film] Barry Lyndon”, he said.

Harriman previously worked in the City as a headhunter. He subsequently founded a media content, tech and commerce company called What We See.

He said he was hugely excited to be taking up the new post. “I believe the incredible mix of art voices that Southbank Centre offers has never been more important, and has huge potential as we develop a modern, post-lockdown cultural institution and explore new ways to innovate and bring arts to our communities,” he said.

This article first appeared in The Guardian on 20th May 2021 and has been edited.