Conversation, Documenting the African American Liberation Struggle Today: Artists in Conversation

Lee Friedlander, Untitled, from the series Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom, 1957, printed later

Lee Friedlander, Untitled, from the series Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom, 1957, printed later. Gelatin silver print. Yale University Art Gallery, Gift of Maria and Lee Friedlander, hon. 2004. © Lee Friedlander, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco

The poignant scenes depicting mass protests and violent attacks on demonstrators, which flooded newspapers, magazines, and television broadcasts in the 1960s, had a profound effect on United States policy. Today, photography and video remain dominant forms of media that artists employ to advance and support contemporary activism, including the Black Lives Matter movement and campus protests. Join local photographers and filmmakers Alex Defroand and Tracy Keza, with La Tanya S. Autry, the Marcia Brady Tucker Senior Fellow, Department of Modern and Contemporary Art, as they discuss methods, modes of circulation, and the construction of photographic archives. The artists also reflect on how their work contributes to building a just society. Presented in conjunction with the exhibition Let Us March On: Lee Friedlander and the Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom.