"After attending a lecture by the world renown photographer Gordon Parks, the purpose and vision with my camera became clearer.
​I began to use my camera to visually educate those who are willing to see."
​                                                                                                                                              Michael Bracey




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​photo by Bill Scott

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Michael Bracey is an award-winning, independent Chicago based photographer that has lectured and exhibited throughout the United States and abroad.  His work has appeared in The Journey: The Next 100 Years, a historical book created by the Chicago Alliance of African-American Photographers (CAAAP) in conjunction with Roosevelt University Press, the Chicago History Museum, and the Chicago Tribune newspaper.
He has received awards, grants and a fellowship from the Illinois Arts Council for Africans Within the Americas, an independent on-going project of travel to different countries documenting commonalities among people of African decent, which resulted in a traveling exhibition and two books. The second book, Caras lindas de Colombia (Beautiful faces of Colombia) and co-authored with Ruth Goring, was awarded 1st place in the Art Book category in 2023 from North Street Book Prize in Northampton, MA 01060  
​(to purchase: https://ruthgoringbooks.com/purchase-caras-lindas/)
Bracey holds a M.A. in Interdisciplinary Arts from Colombia College Chicago (1997) and a B.A. from Webster University, St. Louis, MO (1981), and an Associate of Arts degree from Hutchinson Community College, Hutchinson, Kansas (1978). He is a member of CAAAP (founded in 1999), where he served as Vice-President of Exhibitions, President and Treasurer.