Talks
The Arnold Newman Lecture: Deborah Willis on Reframing, Curating, Writing, and Imaging in Photography
Dr. Deborah Willis presents this year’s annual Arnold Newman Lecture.
Image courtesy of Deborah Willis.
When
Friday, May 29, 2026
6:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Where
Perelman Building,
Perelman Auditorium
Tickets
Free event. Reservations required. Click here to register for virtual attendance.
Membership
Free event. Reservations required. Click here to register for virtual attendance.
Photographs have always had a profound effect on how the Black body is assessed and appreciated, even from the first discovery of photography in the 1840s. Over the past forty years, Dr. Deborah Willis has written extensively about the interplay between imposed representation, on the one hand, and family portraits of Black Americans and contemporary images focusing on self-presentation, on the other. Central to her camera and written work is an ongoing critique that focuses on how the display of the Black body affects how we see and decode images. She considers the notion of beauty: how it is perceived now, what it meant in the nineteenth century, and how it was, and still is, denied. Likewise questioning how best to describe beauty today given the overabundance of images circulating in social media and the archive.
This talk will reconsider and explore the crucial role of photography in (re)telling and shaping African American narratives as well as African diasporic stories, pulling from a dynamic visual archive that has largely gone unacknowledged. Both contemporary and historical photographers and image makers use migration stories, art historical images, and memories of home in their work. In Willis’s view, this pursuit is what she labels “an experience of borrowing” on the part of photographers, curators, and artists taking fresh looks at historical photographs and stories passed down from another time that give a nuanced perspective to contemporary works. She will discuss the complexity of a gaze that is active as it questions the past and present.
Things to Know:
- This is a hybrid program. You can register either for the in-person event or register to watch it live via Zoom.
- There will be time for a Q&A at the end of the program.
- The program will be recorded. A link to the recording will be sent to everyone who registers for the virtual component of the program.
Questions or accommodation requests? Email [email protected].