DPI Events: Reflections in Black: A Reframing Book Launch
Reflections in Black: A Reframing Book Launch
Join The Center for Black Visual Culture and Tisch School of Arts, Department of Photography and Imaging as we celebrate the release of Reflections in Black: A Reframing, the 25th anniversary edition of Dr. Deborah Willis’ internationally acclaimed publication Reflections in Black: A History of Black Photographers 1840 to the Present. This book launch will include a reception, a panel of selected speakers to be announced, and conclude with a book signing.
About the Publication
Originally published in 2000, Reflections in Black published by Liveright, was the first single-volume work to collect the images of leading African American photographers—from the daguerreotype to the digital age. Through its sheer power and inherent beauty, Deborah Willis’s groundbreaking assemblage of photographs of African American life from 1840 to the present triumphantly celebrated family, endurance, and spirituality over the last two centuries as it upended stereotypes and rewrote American history. Aware that so much has changed since 2000, Willis—a world-renowned photographer, curator, and author—has now created a breathtaking twenty-fifth anniversary edition, juxtaposing hundreds of images that appeared in the original edition with 130 new ones.
About the Exhibition
Reflections in Black: A Reframing includes modern prints and extends Willis’s pioneering effort to reshape the narrative of American history, by centering the indisputable aesthetic, political, and cultural contributions of Black photographers from the 19th century to the present. Through both historical and contemporary lenses, Reflections in Black: A Reframing foregrounds a sweeping visual archive that affirms Black self-authorship in imagemaking, spotlighting the evolution and enduring vitality of Black photographic practices. Featured in the exhibition is The Missing Chapter: BLACK CHRONICLES, an ongoing curatorial research program led by Autograph. Focused on unearthing nineteenth century photographs of black presences in Britain’s archives, the portraits offer a unique snapshot of black lives and experiences during the decades following the birth of photography in 1839. Many of these images lay buried deep within the archives for decades, unseen for more than 125 years.
Reflections in Black: A Reframing gathers approximately 125 works spanning photojournalism of the civil rights era, multimedia portraits of middle-class families, and twenty-first century life. The artists featured in the exhibition are A.P. Bedou, Albert Chong, Renee Cox, C. Daniel Dawson, Charles “Teenie” Harris, John W. Mosley, Kambui Olujimi, Gordon Parks, Laila AnnMarie Stevens, Cornelius Tulloch, and Carla Williams among others.
Exhibition Locations
Cooper Square Gallery, 20 Cooper Square, New York, NY, 10003. On View: September 4 - October 15, 2025
Tisch School of the Arts, Department of Photography & Imaging Galleries, 721 Broadway, New York, NY 10003. On View: September 4 - December 21, 2025