- February 07, 2019
- By Sala Levin ’10
Hair, fashion and depictions of African American women in advertising are all up for examination in “Posing Beauty in African American Culture,” the new exhibition that opened Friday in the David C. Driskell Center focuses on the study of visual arts and culture of African Americans.
The traveling exhibit, curated by Deborah Willis of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, has three themes—“Constructing a Pose,” “Body and Image” and “Modeling Beauty and Beauty Contests”—that explore how African American beauty has been depicted historically and today.
The exhibition features work from 51 artists, spanning 1898 to 2009 and is open now through April 27, Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Wednesdays from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. See some of the artwork from the exhibition below.
Hank Willis Thomas, “Posing Beauty,” Archival InkJet Print, 2009
(Clockwise from top left) Lauren Kelley, “Pickin',” color-coupler print, 2007; Jamel Shabazz, “Sophisticated Lady,” c print, 2007; Omar Victor Diop, “Khady,” inkjet pigment print on Hahnemuhle paper, edition of 8, 2011; Jessica Ingram, “Peace, Change, Hope, Obama,” color-coupler print, 2008
Left to Right: Adama Delphine Fawundu, “Blue Eyes, Cocoa Brown,” “Pecola's Blues” and “Big Fro, Brown Eyes,” archival digital print, 2011
On left: Jeffrey Henson Scales, “Young Man in Plaid, New York City,” digital print, 1992
Topics
Arts & Culture