Making History Manifest: Photography in the Archives
A Zoom Presentation by Photographer & Scholar Wendel White
(with response and Q&A from Ousmane Power-Greene)
A Zoom Presentation by Photographer & Scholar Wendel White
(with response and Q&A from Ousmane Power-Greene)
Co-sponsored by the David Ruggles Center and A.P.E. Gallery
Wendel White, Afro-American Sentinel, 1899,
Great Plain Black History Museum, Omaha, NE. Pigment inkjet print, from the series Manifest. |
Throughout his career, photographer and scholar Wendel White has sought to “excavate Black history through material culture” by exploring the history and lived experience of African American communities through objects, images, and documents found in archives and historical collections.
During March 2023, White will be one of three artists featured in After Archives, a contemporary art exhibition curated by Amy Halliday at Northampton's A.P.E. Gallery. In this presentation, White will discuss the role of archives and museum collections in his own work (and particularly in the ongoing project, Manifest), his interest in examining the impulses and motivations to preserve history and record memory, and his belief that remnants of material culture are imbued with the power to help challenge our preconceived ideas. Clark University Associate Professor of History, Ousmane Power-Greene, will respond to Wendel White's presentation, and lead a brief Q&A. |
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“The ability of objects to transcend lives, centuries, and millennia suggests a remarkable mechanism for folding time, bringing the past and the present into a shared space that is uniquely suited to artistic exploration. These artifacts are the forensic evidence of Black life and events in the United States.”
Co-sponsored by the David Ruggles Center and A.P. E Gallery. This presentation is part of the After Archives exhibition at A.P.E. Gallery, 126 Main Street, Northampton (March 3-30, 2023), which was made possible in part through support from the Massachusetts Cultural Council.
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Wendel White, Door Knob, Maye St Julien, Eatonville, Historic Preservation, Eatonville, FL.
Pigment inkjet print, from the series Manifest. |
Wendel A. White
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Wendel A. White was awarded a BFA in photography from the School of Visual Arts in New York and an MFA in photography from the University of Texas at Austin. White taught photography at the School of Visual Arts, NY; The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, NY; the International Center for Photography, NY; Rochester Institute of Technology; and he is currently Distinguished Professor of Art at Stockton University in New Jersey.
His work has received numerous awards and fellowships including a 2021 Robert Gardner Fellow in Photography, Peabody Museum of Archeology & Ethnography, Harvard University and a John Simon Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship in Photography. His most recent project is Manifest: Thirteen Colonies, an ongoing photographic project of African American material culture housed in both public and private collections throughout New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. |
In partnership with A.P.E. Gallery and the David Ruggles Center
A.P.E.'s programming is made possible in part by sustained support from the Massachusetts Cultural Council and individual donations from our community.
Mass Cultural Council works to elevate our rich cultural life in Massachusetts. We partner with communities across the Commonwealth to expand access, improve education, promote diversity, and encourage excellence in the arts, humanities, and sciences. Through our efforts, we make our state a better place to live, work, and visit for everyone.
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The David Ruggles Center for History and Education honors the contributions made to the abolition of slavery by courageous individuals in the Connecticut River Valley of Massachusetts. Its location in the village of Florence within Northampton commemorates those who came here to challenge slavery, live in freedom, and establish a community based on principles of race, gender, class, and religious equality. We seek to educate and inspire our visitors to possibilities in the present by sharing these powerful voices from the past.
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