Sam Wagstaff Photography Lecture with DPI Alums Hank Willis Thomas and Chris Berntsen

The Institute of Fine Arts is pleased to announce that DPI alum Hank Willis Thomas will give the inaugural Sam Wagstaff Photography Lecture in conversation with New York-based artist and DPI alum Chris Berntsen.

“The Sam Wagstaff Photography Lecture creates an important opportunity for the Institute community to discuss critical issues in the field of photography through the perspective of contemporary artists and historians” said Christine Poggi, Judy and Michael Steinhardt Director, Institute of Fine Arts. “It is with great pleasure that we present this new series in the name of one of the great scholars of the 20th century.”

Hank Willis Thomas 
A conceptual artist working primarily with themes related to perspective, identity, commodity, media, and popular culture. His work is included in numerous public collections including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, and the Whitney Museum of American Art, among others. Thomas is a recipient of the Gordon Parks Foundation Fellowship (2018), Guggenheim Fellowship (2018), the AIMIA | AGO Photography Prize (2017), the Soros Equality Fellowship (2017), and is a former member of the New York City Public Design Commission.

Chris Berntsen 
New York based artist who uses photography to explore themes related to queerness, identity, and intimacy. Chris' work has been exhibited in MoMA PS1, Aperture Foundation, New York, The Ogden Museum of Southern Art, and the Contemporary Arts Center New Orleans. He received his BFA from New York University's Tisch School of Arts and is an MFA candidate at Hunter College, New York. He has worked alongside artist Hank Willis Thomas for the past fourteen years.