Eye of History: Discussion on Documentary Photography

Several of the photographers whose works are currently displayed in the Zilkha Gallery will be on campus tomorrow afternoon. Come for their panel discussion, Eye of History: The Camera as Witness, followed by a book signing and public reception:

Internationally renowned documentary photographers Wendy Ewald, Eric Gottesman and Susan Meiselas join acclaimed writer and critic David Levi Strauss in a panel discussion about photography's role in the world today. Wesleyan President and historian Michael Roth will introduce the panel. A Q&A session will follow. Participating as audience members will be a significant number of international scholars of photography and history including former photo editor of the NY Times, Vicki Goldberg.

Following the Panel there will be a public reception and book signing at Zilkha Gallery at 6:30 pm. If you haven't seen it already the reception will be a wonderful opportunity to view the current exhibition curated by Nina Felshin, "Framing and Being Framed: The Uses of Documentary Photography," which features works by the Panel presenters and other artists.

All are welcome. Hope you can join us for this exciting event.

To visit the presentation's website, click here.

Date: Friday, November 7
Time: 4:30 pm
Place: CFA Cinema, then viewing at 6:30 in Zilkha Gallery

Zilkha Photo Exhibition Reviewed by NY Times

The current exhibition in Wesleyan's own Zilkha Gallery, "Framing and Being Framed: The Uses of Documentary Photography", got a great review in the New York Times today:

Despite its title — “Framing and Being Framed: The Uses of Documentary Photography” — the exhibition at the Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery at Wesleyan University contains many artworks that are not, strictly speaking, documentary photographs...

But this in no way negates the show’s powerful premise, which is to encourage viewers to think about the ways in which artists and photographers use and abuse documentary principles. Nina Felshin, the gallery’s curator, has done a terrific job assembling interesting and provocative work in this vein, the best of which invite viewers to consider issues of agency, context and interpretation in documentary-based art.

Not bad! The exhibition includes works by contemporary artists/photographers including Wendy Ewald, Eric Gottesman, Emily Jacir, Matthew Buckingham, An-My Le, and Kota Ezawa.

The exhibition will be on display through December 7, which gives you a good two months to wander into the CFA sometime and check it out.

NY Times: Art Review: Not Quite Documentary Art