October 17, 2025 @ 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM EDT
Join us for a compelling Curator’s Corner Gallery Talk with Dr. Sarah Clunis, Director of The Amistad Center for Art & Culture, as she offers insights into the critically acclaimed photography exhibition, Wendel A. White: Manifest | Thirteen Colonies, curated by Ilisa Barbash, Visual Anthropologist at The Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology.
This striking body of work by renowned photographer Wendel A. White explores the hidden and recovered histories of African American life through evocative images of objects drawn from archives, libraries, and museums across the original thirteen U.S. colonies. Each photographed object—ranging from rare daguerreotypes and manuscripts to everyday personal artifacts—serves as a visual trace of Black presence, resilience, and memory.
Dr. Clunis will discuss the themes of race, memory, and material culture embedded in White’s work, as well as his unique photographic process, which isolates historical objects against black velvet backdrops to evoke absence, intimacy, and reverence. She will also explore the curatorial and cultural significance of the exhibition in the broader context of African American archival history and public memory.
This talk invites visitors to consider how stories are preserved, who gets remembered, and how art can reframe our understanding of history.
Free with museum admission. Donations are accepted.
