Kwame S. Brathwaite, son of the “keeper of the images” and Black Is Beautiful photographer Kwame Brathwaite, will join Corey D.B. Walker, Wake Forest University professor of the humanities, for an interdisciplinary exploration of Pan-Africanism.

This panel presentation will discuss Marcus Garvey’s influence on social activism, changing conceptions of fashion and beauty, the centrality of jazz and blues to twentieth-century Black cultural identity, and more. Advance registration is required.

Photographer and printmaker Kimberly Varnadoe will lead a guided conversation through Black Is Beautiful: The Photography of Kwame Brathwaite with a focus on experimental photography. Guests are encouraged to purchase tickets in advance and visit the exhibition before the talk.

Upcoming Gallery Talks [March 31] Jazz with musician and bass player Matt Kendrick  [April 28] Photography with photographer Owens Daniels

John J. Curley, Wake Forest University Professor of Art History, will discuss American photography from the 1960s and 1970s, thinking specifically about the exhibition The Family of Man, which opened at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1955 and traveled globally thereafter.

After describing this exhibition and its influence, Curley will consider the ways that photographers—including Robert Frank, Roy DeCarava, and Diane Arbus, and Kwame Brathwaite—used their images to reject the show's optimistic view of a unified global community. Advance registration is encouraged.

“Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear / I rise.” Maya Angelou’s poem “Still I Rise,” published in 1978, was an assertion of dignity and resilience in the face of oppression. In the 1980s, Angelou used Reynolda as her stage, sharing words of humanity, survival, and triumph. But before her, numerous Black lives impacted and intersected with the story of Reynolda. Still I Rise: The Black Experience at Reynolda examines the lives of the Black women and men who helped shape Reynolda as it evolved from a Jim Crow era working estate into a museum for American art. 

From 1912 through the 1950s, during one of the most repressive climates for Black people in North Carolina history, Black men and women navigated Reynolda’s segregated spaces—farming the land, constructing buildings, and working as domestic staff within Reynolda’s walls. During this era, segregation, the exploitation of Black labor, and laws that regulated Black behavior affected the lives of all individuals in the Reynolda story, whether at Reynolda or at the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. While the struggle for equality did not end with the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the story of Reynolda pivoted to one of a public cultural institution. When it opened its doors in 1967, Reynolda’s intersection with Black lives shifted as the young, fledgling museum provided a venue for Black artists to celebrate their art. Artists such as Jacob Lawrence, Romare Bearden, and Maya Angelou transformed the historic setting into a stage for their art and teachings. Through art, letters, photographs, and audiovisual recordings, Still I Rise: The Black Experience at Reynolda examines Reynolda’s complicated past in a space designed for reflection and healing.

All are invited to visit the Museum “on the house” (free of charge)! Bring a date to enjoy live music by Diana Tuffin with The Matt Kendrick Trio and explore the nationally-acclaimed exhibition Black Is Beautiful: The Photography of Kwame Brathwaite. After self-touring the exhibition, guests are encouraged to stroll the Gardens and the Village.

In this gallery talk, Founder & Creative Director for Winston-Salem Fashion Week Nikita D. Wallace will lead a guided conversation through Black Is Beautiful: The Photography of Kwame Brathwaite with a focus on fashion. Guests are encouraged to purchase tickets in advance and visit the exhibition before the talk.

This spring, join us for gallery talks with photographer and printmaker Kimberly Varnadoe on March 3, jazz musician Matt Kendrick on March 31, and photographer Owens Daniels on April 28.

Throughout the 1960s, Kwame Brathwaite used his photography to popularize the transformative idea that “Black is Beautiful.” This exhibition—the first dedicated to Brathwaite’s remarkable career—tells the story of a central figure of the second-wave Harlem Renaissance. In addition to his work in photography, Brathwaite co-founded two key organizations: the African Jazz-Art Society and Studios (AJASS), a collective of artists, playwrights, designers, and dancers, and the Grandassa Models—the subject of much of this exhibition’s contents—a creative collective of Black women, founded to challenge white beauty standards.  

In Black Is Beautiful, experience more than forty of Brathwaite’s revolutionary photographs, garments worn by the Grandassa models, posters and Blue Note record albums. 

Exhibition organized by Aperture Foundation, New York and Kwame S. Brathwaite. The exhibition Black Is Beautiful: The Photography of Kwame Brathwaite and the accompanying Aperture publication, are made possible, in part, with generous support from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Photographic Arts Council Los Angeles.

Take a relaxing drive through Chatham County’s rolling hills and pastoral farmlands to visit 54 artists in 41 studios that dot the countryside. Meet artists, learn about their process and artistic vision, and browse affordable original works of art. Paintings, prints, sculpture, pottery, photography, jewelry, glass, leather, wood, digital, and fabric art will be available for purchase.

The Tour is self-guided, allowing you to explore at your leisure with the map provided. Stop for coffee or lunch in one of the many charming eateries in Pittsboro and its surrounds. Cap off the day with a craft beer, cider, a glass of mead wine, or some festive holiday spirits when you visit the Chatham Beverage District.

Join us for a guided conversation with photographer Owens Daniels through The Voyage of Life: Art, Allegory, and Community Response. Guests are encouraged to visit the exhibition beforehand. This event is free with general admission.

Screening of Alex Prager’s (American b. 1979), Face in the Crowd, 2013, HD Digital Video, 11 minutes, 36 seconds

A part of our current exhibit, TRANSFORMATION: A Photography Exhibit.

All Screening Times:

Tuesday, June 1st - 6pm

Thursday, June 24th - 11AM

Thursday, July 8th, 5:30PM

Tuesday, July 20th, 5:30pm

Thursday, July 29th, 5:30pm

Thursday, August 12th - 11am

About the Exhibition:

The photographer is an artist who applies a lens to the world and the contemporary social order.  TRANSFORMATION is a gathering of powerful and intriguing images that open stories of our times and portray a world undergoing transformation.  

The exhibition will also explore the transformation of the photographic process. Photography as an artistic medium has been the beneficiary of changing technologies and new materials in the last quarter-century.  The artist now has dramatic latitude in terms of scale and visual media. Photography is no longer just a pretty picture or a document. It can be many things at once, integrating many materials and media.