Eminent photographers to discuss their work
Eminent photographers to discuss their work
A panel discussion by four eminent African-American photographers will be held from 9 a.m. to noon, Friday, March 22, in 007 Willard Hall Education Building.
Photographers Jim Alexander, Ming Smith Murray, Frank Stewart and (William) Onikwa Bill Wallace, all of whom currently are featured in the "Original Acts" exhibit in the University Gallery, will discuss their craft during the free public program. In the afternoon they will be available to critique works by student photographers at UD.
The "Original Acts" exhibition features photographs of African-American performers from the Paul R. Jones Collection and is on display through March 28 in the gallery.
Alexander has photographed leading jazz musicians for the past 30 years and reached a milestone with the publication of the book Duke and Other Legends in 1971. The photo essay frames the life and career of the famous band leader with that of other internationally known starts like Sammy Davis Jr., Ella Fitzgerald and Miles Davis. Based in Atlanta for the past 20 years.
Murray's work often avoids the literalness of straight photography and depicts people and objects in personal ways–using deep gray tones, bright paint and surface treatments that render her images theatrical and atmospheric.
Her 1992 book, A Ming Breakfast: Grits and Scrambled Eggs, is an evocative diary layered with double entendres, personal signs and secret messages.
Stewart, the artist behind the photo of a jazz group taking a bow, the centerpiece of the UD exhibition, is a New York-based filmmaker and photographer. Recently, he completed a second book project with Wynton Marsalis, the first being Sweet Swing on the Road, published in 1994. His image of Miles Davis being interviewed backstage in the green room, also in the UD show, captures the height of interaction between the performer and the eager press corps.
Wallace, a Chicago-based photographer, seems to be literally in the face of subjects like Miles Davis, Axel McQuerry, Art Blakey, Pharoah Sanders and Sun Ra as he composes the perfect image. His close-ups are so incredible one gets the full sense of the energy, skill and internse concentration required of the musicians,.
For more information on the panel event, call 831-4075. For more information on the exhibition, call 831-8242.
