Reflections in Black: A Reframing, presented by Dr. Deborah Willis

Featuring artists such as J.P. Ball, James VanDerZee, Gordon Parks, Roy DeCarava, Carrie Mae Weems, and Ming Smith
About this Event

Dr. Willis explores the history and legacy of Black photography through images that reveal how Black photographers have shaped self-representation and cultural memory from the nineteenth century to today. Drawing on her landmark publication Reflections in Black, she shows how photographers transformed the camera from a tool linked to distortion and exclusion into an instrument of self-definition, resistance, and creative expression. Featuring artists such as J.P. Ball, James VanDerZee, Gordon Parks, Roy DeCarava, Carrie Mae Weems, and Ming Smith, the talk traces the evolution of Black photographic practice across portraiture, documentary, photojournalism, and contemporary art. Dr. Willis is a photographer, curator, NYU professor, and director of the Center for Black Visual Culture.

Photo: ©The Estate of Maud Sulter