Courtesy of Deborah Willis
Dr. Deborah Willis, chair of the Department of Photography and Imaging at NYU Tisch, contributed an article to VOGUE Magazine for their "Artist Statements" series. From their website:
The Artist Statements project is an ever-evolving creative tribute to the agonies and the ecstasies of Black American life—from police brutality and civil rights activism to the close bonds of community. At a powerful moment of reckoning both across the country and around the world, it serves as a living document, regularly reflecting poignant new imagery and texts from leading Black contemporary artists.
Among the artists that Dr. Willis included are DPI professor Lorie Novak as well as alums Zalika Azim, Rose DeSiano, and Hank Willis Thomas. The work was compiled for a program by the Park Avenue Armory for the 100th Anniversary of Women's Suffrage. From Dr. Willis' statement:
“Woman Creating Nouns, Not Adjectives: Votes for Women”
The Artist’s Statement project allows me to introduce artwork by 11 women who are responding to the 100-year anniversary of the Vote for Women campaign organized by both black and white women in their individual communities across the United States. The artists here reflect on that history in various ways as they celebrate through dress, create and reconstruct portraits, re-stage objects in public and privates spaces all in an attempt to tell the courageous stories of the work of women and the impact they have had on the struggle to vote as they fought for freedom and human rights for the past 100 years globally. These works honor the historical moment through contemporary re-imaginings as each artist visually narrates women’s voices and their activism.