Black Portraitures
What are we to make of these extraordinary images that have played a crucial role in shaping identities and ideals of the black body for over 500 years? We hope to engage in a discussion that will change perceptions and publish an extensive catalog of the works discussed in order to counter the perceived notions of the black body, and explore ways in which to see how these collected works are viewed as beautiful renderings, as well.
Speakers
Awam Amkpa
Associate Professor of Drama and Social and Cultural Analysis
Former Senior Lecturer of Drama and Television at King Alfred's University College, Winchester, England and Assistant Professor of Theater Arts at Mount Holyoke College. Author of Theater and Postcolonial Desires, London: Routledge, 2003 and forthcoming Archetypes, Stereotypes and Polytypes: Theaters of the Black Atlantic. Director of film documentaries such as Winds Against Our Souls, Its All About Downtown, National Images and Transnational Desires, and feature film Wazobia! Author of several articles in books and journals on Modernisms in Theater, Postcolonial theater, Black Atlantic Issues, and Film studies.
Deborah Willis
University Professor and Chair, Department of Photography & Imaging
Deborah Willis, Ph.D, is University Professor and Chair of the Department of Photography & Imaging at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University and has an affiliated appointment with the College of Arts and Sciences, Africana Studies. She was a 2005 Guggenheim Fellow and Fletcher Fellow, and a 2000 MacArthur Fellow, as well as the 1996 recipient of the Anonymous Was a Woman Foundation award. She has pursued a dual professional career as an art photographer and as one of the nation's leading historians of African American photography and curator of African American Culture. Professor Willis has just received the honored educator award at the Society for Photographic Education.
Cross-Tisch Conveners for 2014-15
Una Chaudhuri
Collegiate Professor: Professor of English, Drama Environmental Studies; Affiliate Faculty New York University Abu Dhabi
Diana Taylor
University Professor, Performance Studies and Spanish Founding Director, Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics
Location
Michelson Theatre
721 Broadway Sixth Floor, Room 648
New York City, New York 10012
Time
October 8, 2014 from 6:00pm-8:00pm