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| Vol. 17, No. 25 | March 26, 1998 |
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| Vol. 17, No. 25 | March 26, 1998 |
Deborah Willis, curator of exhibitions at the Smithsonian Institution's Center for African-American History and Culture, will speak at 5:30 p.m., Wednesday, April 1, in Room 202 of Old College.
Her talk, "Framing Black Photographers in the 20th Century," will be held in conjunction with the photo exhibit, "Through These Eyes: The Photographs of P.H. Polk," now on display at the University Gallery.
A reception will follow in the University Gallery. The talk and reception are free and open to the public.
Willis has excelled in two diverse careers, first as a fine art photographer and later as a scholar and curator of African-American art and culture. She remains active in both.
She earned her bachelor's and master's degrees in photography from the Philadelphia Institute of Art and the Pratt Institute before pursuing advanced degrees in art history, museum studies and cultural studies at the City University of New York and George Mason University.
She has published an array of books on African-American photography, including Visual Journal: Harlem and D.C. in the '30s and '40s, Picturing Us: African-American Identity in Photography, VanDer Zee, Photographer, 1886-1983 and An Illustrated Bio-bibliography of Black Photographers, 1840-1940.
Her curatorial projects have explored such topics as "Imagining Families: Images and Voices," "Constructed Images: New Photography" and "Black Photographers Bear Witness: 100 Years of Social Protest."
Her photographic work has been featured in individual and group exhibitions at the Center for Creative Photography, the Southeastern Center for contemporary Art, the Photo Center Gallery and numerous other institutions.
"Through These Eyes," has been on display at the University Gallery since early January. It will close there April 5 and then travel nationally through the year 2000 to such venues as the Brunnier Art Museum at Iowa State University in Ames, the Atlanta History Center and the Museum of Fine Arts in Montgomery, Ala.
"Through These Eyes: The Photographs of P.H. Polk" celebrates the centennial of this important and influential artist's birth. From 1928-1939, Prentice Herman Polk taught photography at Tuskegee Institute and in 1933 became the third head of the photography division at the Southern school. From 1939 until his death in 1984, he held the position of official photographer at Tuskegee and, having one of the few private studios in the Macon County area, also became a well-known portrait photographer during his lifetime.
The University Gallery is wheelchair-accessible and open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesdays through Fridays, and from 1-5 p.m. on Saturdays and Sunday. For more information on the Polk exhibit or Willis' talk, call 831-8242.
-Beth Thomas
