Deborah Willis

"Few photographers had the insider access Oakland native Jeffrey Henson Scales did around the Black Panther Party in the late 1960s. Capturing intimate portraits and protest images of the organization and its leaders in a time of societal upheaval, Scales archive lay dormant and forgotten for some 50 years. Then in 2018, when his mother died and the contents of the family home were sorted, the negatives were discovered. Fast forward to today's national...

"Inspired by Deborah Willis's book, Reflections in black, Through a lens darkly casts a broad net that begins with filmmaker Thomas Allen Harris's family album. It considers the difference between black photographers who use the camera to define themselves, their people, and their culture and some white photographers who, historically, have demeaned African-Americans through racist imagery. The film embraces both historical material (African-Americans...

"Afro-Atlantic Histories" brings together a selection of more than 400 works and documents by more than 200 artists from the 16th to the 21st centuries that express and analyze the ebbs and flows between Africa, the Americas, the Caribbean, and Europe. The book is motivated by the desire and need to draw parallels, frictions, and dialogues around the visual cultures of Afro-Atlantic territories--their experiences, creations, worshipping, and philosophy....

This important book showcases the potent role of visual art in African American history and culture. Featuring Black artists working in a range of media, from photography to sculpture to painting--including Amy Sherald, Benny Andrews, Sheila Pree Bright, Bisa Butler, Charles Alston, Elizabeth Catlett, Shaun Leonardo, and David Hammons, to name just a few--the book considers art that exemplifies resilience in times of conflict, as well as the ritual...

"Accompanying an exhibition during the Morgan Library & Museum's centennial in 2024, this publication tells the story of the American librarian Belle da Costa Greene (1879-1950), the first director of the institution. She ran the Morgan Library for forty-three years--initially as the private librarian of J. Pierpont Morgan, and then his son Jack, who established his father's collection as an educational and research facility for the public. The book,...