Being Seen Listening: Photography, Pan-Africanism, and the Public Sphere Lunch and Lecture with Professor Antawan Byrd
Photographs documenting sixties-era struggles for decolonization and civil rights across Africa and the African diaspora reveal how individuals and communities entered political life by gathering in public squares to listen: to state authorities, dissidents, and to one another. Such assemblies often unfolded under conditions of surveillance and risk, even as they generated collective energy and power. Attending to the visible presence of sound technologies and the staging of attention in documentary images, this talk frames the act of being seen listening as both an aesthetic and a political practice within the history of art as well as a vital expression of Pan-African solidarity. Byrd's talk further considers how contemporary artists elaborate and reactivate forms of assembly and mediated presence associated with the sixties, underscoring the decade's continued relevance and impact on recent social and political upheavals.
Antawan I. Byrd is an Assistant Professor of Art History at Northwestern University and an Associate Curator of Photography and Media at the Art Institute of Chicago. His research and teaching focus on the art and culture of Africa and the African diaspora from the late nineteenth century to the present.
This event is free but please book a space and let us know your dietary requirements by Monday 1 June using the link to the MS Forms.