Awards & Grants
Eddie Adams Workshop (EAW XXXVI) /
Jim Dietz Award / 2024 Team Black
International Center of Photography / PhotoSlam Family Archive Winner
First Wave Hip Hop Urban Arts Scholar /
UW Madison
Public Humanities Exchange for Undergraduates (HEX-U) / UW Madison
Prism Photo Workshop Scholarship
Hero in the Hood Award - Chicago Defender
True Award - True Chicago
Encampment For Citizenship Fellow
George Floyd Social Justice Scholarship - Northeastern Illinois University
Exhibitions
In Our Landscape -
Black Cultural Center UW Madison - April through December 2023 -
“untitled” -
School of Education Gallery UW Madison - Forthcoming -
Chicago - Madison, WI - International
Training
Restorative & Transformative Justice
Trauma Based Care (& storytelling)
Direct Action, Political, & Digital Organizing
Rapid Response Organizing & Communications
Contributor
NYTimes
NYTimes Upfront Mag
Injustice Watch
The Triibe
Truthout.org
Contact
kalebautman@gmail.com
Currently
Madison, WI & Chicago
Kaleb Bakari Autman
Bakari meaning “Nobel Oath” “Promising”
Kaleb Bakari Autman [02/02/2002] is a documentary photographer, filmmaker, writer, and scholar from Chicago’s West Side. His work centers on socio-political resistance, environmental justice, and world-building, grounded in a deep commitment to generational memory and stories of survivance.
Trained as a community organizer and strategist, Kaleb has stood on the front lines of numerous social movements—working as both documentarian and activist. His creative practice is rooted in care, collaboration, and truth-telling, particularly within Black communities confronting systemic harm while imagining liberated futures.
As a globally engaged scholar, Kaleb has traveled to seven countries documenting and cultivating resistance, ritual, and relationship across diasporic geographies.
His honors include:
- Jim Dietz Awardee at the Eddie Adams Workshop
- HEX-U Fellow with the Center for the Humanities
- Family Album Photo Slam Winner at the International Center of Photography
Kaleb’s work has been published by The New York Times, Injustice Watch, Upfront Magazine, The United Nations, and numerous grassroots and independent outlets.
He is currently a First Wave Scholar at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he studies Sociology and Legal Studies. Outside of his creative and scholarly work, Kaleb loves to cook, read, and spend time with both his blood and chosen family.