This convening brings together eight artists who, in the 1980s, embraced photography and video as means to bring visibility to the histories and perspectives of people of color, women, LGBTQ+, and/or working-class communities. Discussing how they developed new methods and ideas about photography, film, and documentary, this program illuminates the legacies of these experimental practices in contemporary art.

Gathered on the occasion of the exhibition Carrie Mae Weems: Something Grander Still at the Art Galleries at Black Studies at The University of Texas at Austin, invited artists will discuss their various projects to recover then-unsung photographic histories; to rethink the politics of representation and media; and to open art and educational institutions to the large and diverse publics they serve. Delving into the connections between these artists’ efforts, this convening offers a group oral history of artworks and publications collected in AGBS’ Carrie Mae Weems: Something Grander Still.