| February 12, 2008 | FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE |
George Eastman House presents Eli Reed's Black in America
Exhibition to feature recent photographs of Rochester's African-American community
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — George Eastman House International Museum of
Photography and Film presents a selection of works from celebrated Magnum
photographer Eli Reed's signature portfolio Black in America.
The display of 20 images, on view Feb. 16 through June 29, features intimate
moments of everyday rural and urban life, reflecting the African-American
experience from 1978 through 1996. A special addition will be Reed's recent
photographs of Rochester's African-American community.
Reed — who will visit Eastman House to discuss his work on
Thursday, Feb. 28 — is one of America's leading African-American
photojournalists. Black in America is a provocative and often poignant
portrait of African-American life in America. Featured are intimate moments
of everyday rural and urban life — the joy of a wedding,
tender moments between parents and children, the Million Man March, a
104-year-old woman contemplating life on her front porch, teenagers breakdancing on a Civil War site in South Carolina.
Reed, who has been a runner-up for the Pulitzer Prize and bestowed the
World Press Award and Overseas Press Club Award, has been documenting the
black experience in America from the time he began taking pictures. He pursued
what he describes as a "self-assigned" project to translate artistically
his encounters with black Americans from all walks of life, in communities
from across the United States, into the medium of photography. In describing
his Black in America series, Reed noted he was dealing "with life for
black Americans now and reaching into the next century."
George Eastman House has commissioned Reed to create a contemporary
and localized supplement to his series, photographing Rochester's African-American
community in mid-February. Now working in color, Reed's newest body
of work will extend his project into the 21st century. The Rochester
images, which will be exhibited digitally on a computer monitor alongside
Reed's framed photographs, will allow Rochesterians to view their community
though new eyes.
"More than mere documents of events, Reed's photographs are direct and
emotionally gripping," describes Magnum Photos. "There is a sureness to the work —
a compelling immediacy and resonance. While they inform us, they can
also move us to tears, to understanding and to action. The work allows viewers
to step back a bit from the immediacy of today's headlines and raises issues
about social change and the relationships between history, journalism, memory,
and what happened."
The exhibition at Eastman House is sponsored by American Red Cross and
Paychex Inc. It is part of an exhibition series this winter and spring at
Eastman House titled Loss/Hope. The images on exhibit were selected from Reed's
complete Black in America series, given to Eastman House in 2004 in honor
of Dr. Alison Nordström being named curator of photographs.
About Eli Reed
Reed, a photojournalism professor at the University of Texas at Austin,
is the first and only African American to be elected to the prestigious photojournalists'
cooperative, Magnum Photos. He began photographing as a freelancer in 1970. His work
from El Salvador, Guatemala, and other Central American countries attracted the
attention of Magnum in 1982. He was nominated to the agency the following summer,
and became a full member in 1988.
In the same year Reed photographed the effects of poverty on America's children
for a film documentary called Poorest in the Land of Plenty, narrated by Maya Angelou.
He went on to work as a stills and specials photographer for major motion pictures.
His video documentary Getting Out was shown at the New York Film Festival in
1993 and honored by the 1996 Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame International Film and
Video Competition in the documentary category.
Reed's special reports include a long-term study on Beirut (1983-87),
which became his first, highly acclaimed book Beirut, City of Regrets;
the ousting of Baby Doc Duvalier in Haiti (1986); U.S. military action in Panama
(1989); the Walled City in Hong Kong; and, perhaps most notably, his documentation
of African-American experience over more than 20 years, as depicted in his series
Black in America.
His awards include the W. Eugene Smith Grant in Documentary Photography,
the Kodak World Image Award for Fine Art Photography, World Press Award,
Leica Medal of Excellence, Nikon World Understanding Award, Overseas Press
Club Award, Nieman Fellowship at Harvard, Mark Twain Associated Press Award,
and a runner-up for the Pulitzer Prize.
Eli Reed at Eastman House
Reed will present the illustrated lecture Shouting in a Whisper from 6 to 7 p.m.
Thursday, Feb. 28, in the Eastman House's Dryden Theatre. He will discuss how one
captures the photographic moment through understanding the past, the present, and
possible futures. The lecture is free to the public (with support from Rochester
Area Community Foundation) and is part of the Eastman House's "Wish You Were Here"
lecture series as well as the Loss/Hope exhibition series.
Loss/Hope Series
In a series of exhibitions opening throughout winter and spring 2008,
George Eastman House focuses on the photograph's unique ability to take
its viewers to parts of the world they might not otherwise know. From the
slums of 19th-century London, to the Depression dust bowl, to the variety
of contemporary lives in black America and the Middle East, the series Loss/Hope
informs us and asks for our engagement by considering the notion of loss,
both personally and as a result of industrialization and poverty. The Loss/Hope
series is sponsored by Nixon Peabody LLP.
Attention Media: For additional information or high-resolution images, please fill out this form to obtain the address of the Press Room's FTP site.
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