Christian Walker’s Photographic Legacy: A Panel with Dr. Deborah Willis

Join co-curators Jackson Davidow and Noam Parness for a panel with Dr. Deborah Willis, University Professor and Chair of the Department of Photography & Imaging at Tisch School of the Arts at New York University focused on the expanded photographic practice of Christian Walker whose work is featured in Christian Walker: The Profane and the Poignant, January 24–April 21, 2024. Their discussion will focus on Walker’s innovations in documentary and experimental photographic practices in Boston and Atlanta artistic circles, in addition to his activism and criticism addressing topics ranging from queer public sex, interracial desire, and HIV/AIDS, censorship, drug use, and Blackness and whiteness in the visual field.

Deborah Willis, Ph.D. is University Professor and Chair of the Department of Photography & Imaging at Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. She has affiliated appointments with the College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Social & Cultural Analysis and the Institute of Fine Arts, where she teaches courses on Photography & Imaging, iconicity, and cultural histories visualizing the black body, women, and gender. She is the director of NYU’s Center for Black Visual Culture/Institute of African American Affairs. Her research examines photography’s multifaceted histories, visual culture, the photographic history of Slavery and Emancipation, contemporary women photographers, and beauty.