Coreen Simpson

Coreen Simpson (b. 1942, New York City) is a photographer and jewelry designer. She has been honored in both fields throughout her career. In 1978, as Assistant Curator of Photography at The Studio Museum in Harlem, she made dynamic portraits of fellow artists in her small office/studio. Making jewelry supported her art, and in 1990 she created her signature collection The Black Cameo® for women of color. It is the first American modern cameo pin honoring the strength, beauty, and resilience of the Black woman. Her B-Boy series of hip-hop style landed her “impact visuals” on New York’s Broadway stage for the 1996 Tony Award-winning musical, Bring in ‘da Noise, Bring in ‘da Funk. 

Simpson’s images are represented in The National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; The Smithsonian Museum of African American Culture, Washington, DC; the Library of Congress, Washington, DC; the Museum of Modern Art, New York City; The Museum-Over-Holland, Amsterdam; The International Center of Photography, New York City; Musée de la Photographie à Charleroi, Belgium; and the permanent collections of The Studio Museum in Harlem and The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York City, among other institutions. She is a fellow of Light Work (Syracuse University), the New York State Council for the Arts, the New York Foundation for the Arts, Franklin Furnace (1983 commission), and a recipient of the 2021 Humanities New York grant for Her Eyes Only. Simpson studied at F.I.T. and The New School, New York City.