Filmmaker and Author to Discuss Acclaimed Documentary "Through A Lens Darkly," Impact of Black Photographers

Author and co-producer Deborah Willis and producer Don Perry will be featured at a special showing of the film Through A Lens Darkly, on Thursday, March 19, hosted by The Amistad Center for Art & Culture in collaboration with the Wadsworth Atheneum.

Through A Lens Darkly: Black Photographers and the Emergence of a People is a remarkable documentary and multimedia outreach project gaining widespread acclaim for its exploration of how African American communities have used the medium of photography to construct political, aesthetic, and cultural representations of themselves and their world. The documentary examines the role of photography in shaping the identity, aspirations, and social emergence of African Americans. It is the first documentary to explore the American family album through the eyes of Black photographers.

Inspired by Deborah Willis’ groundbreaking book Reflections in Black and featuring the works by Carrie Mae Weems, Lorna Simpson, Anthony Barboza, Hank Willis Thomas, Coco Fusco, Lyle Ashton Harris and many others, Through A Lens Darkly introduces the viewer to a community of storytellers who collectively transform singular experiences into a journey of discovery - and a call to action.

The documentary earned the NAACP Image Award Nomination for Best Theatrical Documentary, was Winner of the Fund for Santa Barbara Social Justice Award, PAFF Programmers Best Documentary Award, African Movie Academy Award, and Best Diasporic Documentary.

Described as “engrossing and enlightening,” and “a fascinating, visually stunning, emotionally devastating documentary” in a review in the Washington Post, the film “demonstrates how that act of self-definition has been continually subverted by way of racist caricatures, demeaning stereotypes and corrosive, wildly inaccurate depictions of black individuals and families.”

Hartford audiences will have the opportunity to hear directly from director Harris and author Willis, in advance of a showing of the film that has received widespread praise for its revealing and riveting portrayal of the impact of photographic images. A reception begins at 5:30, and introduction program at 6:30, and a showing of the film at 7:00 pm.

Deborah Willis, PhD, is the Chair of the Department of Photography & Imaging at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University and has an affiliated appointment as a University Professor with the College of Arts and Sciences, Africana Studies. Don Perry is Chief Operating Officer of Chimpanzee Productions, Inc.; an experienced financial and management consultant with a wide ranging background in commercial finance. He was co-writer and co-producer, with Thomas Allen Harris, of a feature-length documentary.

“We are privileged that Deborah Willis and Don Perry will share with us the story of how the book and documentary were developed, and what they discovered and revealed in the process,” said Olivia S. White, Executive Director of The Amistad Center. “Their work has highlighted a previously unexplored aspect of African American history, and American history that continues to impact and influence our society today.”

“The Wadsworth Atheneum is thrilled to collaborate with The Amistad Center for Art & Culture to present this enthralling and poignant documentary, a film that so beautifully and skillfully sheds new light on the history of African American photography,” said Deborah A. Gaudet, Curator of Film and Theater, Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art.

The Amistad Center for Art & Culture is dedicated to celebrating art and culture influenced by people of African descent through education, scholarship and social experiences. Its collection of 7,000 works of art, artifacts and ephemera documents nearly the entire history of the literary, artistic, military, enslaved, and free lives of Black people in America and inspires a range of exhibitions and public programs and events.

After being closed to the public for the past year as a top-to-bottom renovation of exhibition space proceeded, The Amistad Center for Art & Culture recently re-opened to the public with new, expanded facilities. The newly reconfigured and expanded space for The Amistad Center, which is a “museum-in-a-museum” at the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, now features 35 percent more exhibition, study and office space and, for the first time, a study center that can be used by researchers and the public.

In a review of the documentary, The New York Times noted “It is still depressingly easy to find images that pathologize and dehumanize young black men.” Observed The Times: “Inspired by Deborah Willis’s groundbreaking and thorough excavation of a vital and neglected photographic tradition, Mr. Harris’s film is a family memoir, a tribute to unsung artists and a lyrical, at times heartbroken, meditation on imagery and identity.” The documentary aired recently on the Public Broadcasting System.

The Amistad Center’s educational programs are supported by Eversource Energy. The Amistad Center is an independently incorporated and managed not-for-profit 501(c)3 organization, located in the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art - a “museum within a museum,” enjoying a unique institutional relationship that facilitates rich cross-cultural conversations between art and audiences.

The Amistad Center is not related to the many other organizations in Connecticut and across the country who share the name Amistad. Amistad is a popular choice as it remembers a significant event and calls to mind African American strength and history. The Amistad Center website is www.amistadartandculture.org, or call 860-838-4133.