About

Todd Drake is a human rights photographer and social practice artist based in Brooklyn, NY.

Originally from the American South, Drake creates art which addresses human rights issues among marginalized communities. Working collaboratively with community members, Drake creates images that are both specific and universal and reveal his concern for the most basic of human rights - to be considered fully human.

Recipient of a Rockefeller Fellowship, numerous Fulbright-Hayes, North Carolina Arts Council, and Department of Education grants, Drake has exhibited across the United States and internationally including exhibitions in Jerusalem, Ramallah, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.

His traveling exhibitions are shown in college venues including Rhode Island School of Design, New York University, in museums such as the Heart Mountain Interpretative Center (site of Japanese American Internment during WWII), and museums such as Mathers Museum, the Weatherspoon Art Museum and the South Eastern Center for Contemporary Art ( SECCA.)

Working in a wide variety of media with a focus on photography and installation, Drake’s interest in activism, teaching, and visual based research has led him to create exhibitions that blur the lines between art making, curating, and teaching.

He has worked collaboratively with communities including Muslim Americans, undocumented immigrants, and Palestinians.

Drake’s work documenting the lives of Muslim Americans came to the attention of the United Nations and resulted in his invitation to travel as a visiting artist for the US State Department.

In 2011, Drake traveled to Bahrain and Saudi Arabia to conduct workshops and exhibit work from his Esse Quam Videri - Muslim Self Portrait Project. This ongoing project is supported by the Center for Global Initiatives at the University of North Carolina.

In 2013, Drake worked in Palestine where he traveled and held workshops across the West Bank and Jerusalem, culminating in an exhibition at The International Academy of Art -Palestine, in Ramallah.

He has also worked extensively with the undocumented immigrant communities in the American South and those left behind in Mexico. An author and graphic designer for two books on the subject, he has also created the exhibition HELP: Hidden Work, Hidden Lives.

This traveling exhibition draws connections over exploitative labor practices from the era of slavery through Jim Crow to undocumented immigration.

Drake's most recent photo series and book project is A Journey Like Us: Learning from Diversity. Supported by NC Arts Council grants, Drake has collaborated with a wide range of students including a wide range of immigrant students who attend several North Carolina high schools. The resulting book was given to 300 new teachers entering the systems and is used in diversity training.

Drake enjoys trail running and is married with two amazing sons.