Conference

Beyond Beauty: Conversations about Photography
October 2, 2009, 1–6 PM
Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University
Free and Open to the Public

Co-sponsored by the Archive of Documentary Arts at the Special Collections
Library, the Center for Documentary Studies, and the Nasher Museum of Art at
Duke University

Some of the most renowned photographers, curators,
and documentary writers working today will gather for a free half-day
conference on Friday, October 2, at the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University.
Throughout the afternoon, these internationally known artists and photography
experts will share their experiences as they explore the idea of beauty and its
relationship to, and representation in, the photographic image.

The conference complements the exhibition Beyond Beauty: Photographs from the
Duke University Special Collections Library, on view at the Nasher Museum of
Art at Duke University through October 18, and the publication Beyond Beauty:
The Archive of Documentary Arts at Duke University, available at
http://library.duke.edu/specialcollections/documentaryarts/donate.html.

In three informal conversations participants will deconstruct the roles of
photography in modern society: as an agent of social change and transformation,
as documentation of a historical moment, and, ultimately, as a “beautiful”
object. 

Speakers include photographers Dawoud Bey, Bill Burke, Eric Gottesman, Laurel
Nakadate, Susan Meiselas, Tom Rankin, and Deborah Willis, as well as Philip Brookman of the
Corcoran Gallery of Art and Alison Nordström of the George Eastman House.

Paul Hendrickson, Lehman Brady Visiting Joint Chair Professor in Documentary
Studies and American Studies at Duke University and the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill, will conclude the conference with a talk about the
archive's’ role in preserving and providing access to a society’'s
photographic heritage. Hendrickson will give particular attention to the Farm
Security Administration'’s little-seen color photographs of the Depression
era, the subject of his book Bound for Glory: America in Color 1939-43.

The event is free and open to the public. Parking and seating are limited, so
please plan to arrive early.  Parking is available for an hourly fee at the Nasher Museum of Art and Sarah P. Duke Gardens parking lots.

For more information please visit www.nasher.duke.edu

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