Amani Willett is a Boston-based photographer whose practice is driven by conceptual ideas surrounding family, history, memory, and the social environment. Working primarily with the book form, his three monographs have been published to widespread critical acclaim. Disquiet (Damiani, 2013), The Disappearance of Joseph Plummer (Overlapse, 2017) and “A Parallel Road (Overlapse 2020)” were selected by Photo-Eye as “best books” of the year and have been highlighted in over 70 publications including ​Photograph Magazine, PDN,​ ​Hyperallergic, Lensculture, New York Magazine, The New York Times, 1000 Words, NPR, The British Journal of Photography, Collector Daily and Buzzfeed and recommended by ​Todd Hido,​ ​Elisabeth Biondi (former Visuals Editor of The New Yorker), Vince Aletti and Joerg Colberg (Conscientious), among others.

Amani’s photographs are also featured in the books​ American Geography (SF Moma/Radius Books, 2021), Bystander: A History of Street Photography (2017 edition, Laurence King Publishing), ​Street Photography Now​ (Thames and Hudson), ​New York: In Color​ (Abrams), and have been published widely in places including The Atlantic, A​merican Photography,​ Newsweek​,​ Harper’s,​ ​The Huffington Post, The New York Times, The New York Times Magazine and The New York Review of Books​.​ His work resides in the collections of the Tate Modern, The Library of the Museum of Modern Art, The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, The Sir Elton John Photography Collection, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Oxford University, and Harvard University, among others.

Amani completed an MFA in Photography, Video and Related Media from the School of Visual Arts, NY in 2012 and a BA from Wesleyan University in 1997.

In addition to his artistic practice, Amani is an Associate Professor of Photography at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston​.

Selected Exhibitions

• 2025 – Faces in the Crowd, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
• 2024 – Hiding in Place, Abakus Projects, Boston, MA
• 2023 – Notes On A Native Son, Peckham 24, London, England
  
• 2022 – A Parallel Road, solo show, Abakus Projects, Boston, MA
• 2022 – A Parallel Road, featured exhibition , Athens Photo Festival, Athens, Greece
• 2021 – SALLY, Wellfleet, MA
• 2019 – Mutable/Multiple, Format Photo Festival, Fordham University
• 2018 – Photography Book Show, Benaki Museum, Athens, Greece
• 2015 – Underground Railroad: Hiding in Place, (solo show), Adelphi University

Selected Press

• 2026 – Amani Willet: Invisible Sun. Lenscratch
• 2025 – Favorite Photobooks 2025 — The Big List – Compiled by LensCulture Editors. Lensculture
• 2024 – 11 Art Exhibitions to See in Massachusetts This Fall. Boston Art Review
• 2022 – Best Photo Picks, June, 2022. What Will You Remember?
• 2021 – Top Ten Photobooks of 2021 By David Campany and Vince Aletti. Int’l Center of Photography
• 2021 – Eight Striking Images of New York Through The Decades. Mr Porter
• 2021 – Issue 143. Fraction Magazine
• 2021 – Sundown Towns Are Still A Problem For Black Drivers. BuzzFeed News

Selected Collections

• Museum of Modern Art
• Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
• Tate Modern Library and Archive, London, England
• Sir Elton John Photography Collection
• Library of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

Selected Awards

• 2021 – Aperture Portfolio Awards finalist
• 2020 – Herb Alpert Award Nominee
• 2018 – Daylight Photo Awards, Juror’s Pick