May Lecture Series Continues With Groundbreaking Photographer of African-American Life
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Nov. 3, 2015) — Deborah Willis, a groundbreaking photographer who is internationally recognized for her work on the visual representation of African Americans, will present the second installment of this year's Robert C. May Photography Lecture Series, organized by the University of Kentucky Art Museum. The free public lecture begins at 4 p.m. Friday, Nov. 6, in the Singletary Center for the Arts Concert Hall.
"She has been one of my heroes for a long time," said Janie Welker, UK Art Museum curator. "She is the rare scholar who delivers keen critical analysis with the ease of a storyteller, and as the MacArthur Foundation noted when they awarded her a 'genius' grant in 2000, she has pretty much single-handedly recovered the legacy of African-American photography."
Willis' early work includes monographs on J. P. Ball, a prominent 19th century daguerreotypist in Cincinnati and James Van Der Zee, who chronicled the Harlem Renaissance. Her numerous publications include: "Picturing Us: African American Identity in Photography"; "Posing Beauty: African American Images from the 1890s to the Present"; "Michelle Obama: The First Lady in Photographs"; and "Black Venus 2010: They Called Her 'Hottentot.'"
Willis has worked as a curator at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture at the New York Public Library and at the Smithsonian Center for African American History producing exhibitions and related publications stemming from her original research. These include "Reflections in Black: A History of Black Photographers 1840 to Present" at the Smithsonian. Willis also co-produced the documentary "Through a Lens Darkly: Black Photographers and the Emergence of a People." This fall, she curated a traveling exhibition "Posing Beauty in African American Culture," which was based on her recent book.
The May Lecture Series explores photography's roots in the 19th century and its reinvention in the digital world. The lecture series is made possible through the Robert C. May Photography Endowment, a museum fund established in 1994 for the support of acquisitions and programs relating to photography. Other speakers coming to town as part of the series include Paul Shambroom.
The mission of the UK Art Museum, part of the UK College of Fine Arts, is to promote the understanding and appreciation of art to enhance the quality of life for people of Kentucky through collecting, exhibiting, preserving and interpreting outstanding works of visual art from all cultures. Home to a collection of more than 4,800 objects including American and European paintings, drawings, photographs, prints and sculpture, the museum presents both special exhibitions and shows of work from its permanent collection.
MEDIA CONTACT: Whitney Hale, 859-257-8716; whitney.hale@uky.edu