Todd Drake is an interdisciplinary artist who focuses on human rights and environmental  issues through photography, painting, and printmaking. 

Originally from the North Carolina, Drake  lives and works in New York City.  

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. 

He has also authored and designed books used extensively in educational setting including Going to Carolina del Norte (design and photography by Drake, authored by Dr. Hannah Gill ), Feeling a Type of Way,  and A Journey Like Us -Getting from There to Here. The latter is used in programing in international high schools. His most recent book in title Other Tears, Recognizing Signs of Trauma In Children and was inspired and dedicated to the children separated from the families at the US/ Mexico border. 

Drake's most recent solo exhibition is Rising and is  a series of prints and pen and ink drawings dealing with the issue of Global Warming. His surrealistic imagery links his experiences growing up on the Outer Banks of North Carolina with his concerns for what will be lost due to the rising tides of Climate Crisis. 

Drake's photos have been  included in the exhibition Gateways / Portales on undocumented immigration at the Smithsonian's Anacostia Community Museum, Drake's traveling exhibitions have also 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 printmaking,  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. Drake wrote and illustrated a children's book Give Me Eyes. (Video version) 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 was also instrumental in helping FaithAction International House initiate a faith based community ID Program, important and valued by both the police and immigrant communities. 

Drake's photo series include a book project titled  A Journey Like Us: Learning from Diversity. Supported by NC Arts Council grants, Drake collaborated with a wide range of students including immigrant students who attend several North Carolina high schools to share their struggles and triumphs through portraits and their own writing. 

Drake also revisits his family's connection to model homes in a series and relates his own story to the wider issue of poverty, and the loss of the American Dream. Titled Dreams Deferred, this series begins with Drake's father who built mobile homes in the early 1960s and looks at the vintage mobile home as a symbol of loss, both personal and societal.

Drake currently lives in Manhattan where he co-manages a communal living house with his wife, teaches, and makes his art where he can including on his kitchen table and in the ally by his building. He teaches art and advertising at Manhattan Early College School for Advertising in lower Manhattan.

Drake enjoys running, biking, swimming, playing the mandolin and is married with two amazing grown children. 

 " I can't tell you how much it means that you take the time to form friendships with and between the people in your writings and portraits. No one ever feels objectified. Your work preserves the dignity of your subjects."

                                                                                    - Sonya Parker, project participant 

“All humans are not equal.” I have heard this stated again and again in my travels around the world - in The United States, Germany, Mexico, Palestine, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia. At its core, this comment is pointing out the real inequities that exist between people; inequities in access to resources, freedom, and healthcare. Such a statement usually follows on the heels of my sharing the belief that all people are equally human. This is also true. In fact, its denial is the meta reason for the former; when we deny the humanity of another it becomes easy to exploit, to maintain obvious inequities, or to kill. My work shines a light on this practice by presenting marginalized communities in their full humanity. Through images and narratives that spot light their individual struggles and personal joys, I provoke the viewing audience to re-examine their assumptions by presenting images and information often in direct opposition to what they have seen before. The tension between the two often bring to the surface stereotypes and assumptions formed through exposure to mass media and not personal experience. To counter this powerful influence, I use tools that are available to me as an artist. Research proves that the human brain remembers most effectively through still images and narratives. I use both to present new information that may take some time to reconcile. I also use venues such as museums, universities, and academic conferences, that offer other learning opportunities on the content found in my exhibitions.

I acquire my content from prolonged periods of working collaboratively with community members. Some projects have taken years to fully execute. Using visual based research methods, I take time to form friendships, study and learn the history of the community, and collect narratives and create images that are shaped deeply by the input of the community. Recognizing the importance of first person perspectives, I also take time to teach image making skills to community members. These efforts have resulted in collaborative exhibitions, and also inspired and supported artists on their own paths. I also take time to give back to the communities by donating my time and resources without the expectation of personal return. These volunteer opportunities are part of a holistic approach to art making that I have found creates unique work, is personally rewarding, beneficial to the communities, and is sustainable.

--Todd Drake