RACE, GENDER AND VISUAL REPRESENTATION: A LECTURE AT MULLINS LIBRARY

"Triptych: Artist's Anthology II" by Aj Smith; used with permission. Artists Marjorie Williams-Smith and Aj Smith also will be honored at the Harris reception.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - The University Libraries, in conjunction with the Walton Arts Center, is proud to host a lecture by artist and art historian Dr. Michael D. Harris of UNC Chapel Hill at 3 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 12, in the Helen Robson Walton Reading Room in Mullins Library.

Professor Harris' lecture, entitled "Race, Gender and Visual Representation," will present points made in his book "Colored Pictures: Race and Visual Representation." In the book, Harris investigates the role of visual representation in the construction of black identities, both real and imagined, in the United States. He focuses particularly on how African-American artists have responded to-and even used-stereotypical images in their own works.

Harris shows how, during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, racial stereotypes representing African Americans seeped into their self-images and undermined their self-esteem. Harris' examination of black artists' responses to racist imagery offers a compelling insight into the profound psychological impact of visual stereotypes on the African American community.

The lecture is funded by the University Libraries and the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation. A reception and a book signing for Dr. Harris will follow. Also featured and honored at the reception will be artists Marjorie Williams-Smith and Aj Smith, whose exhibit "Drawings by Marjorie & Aj" is currently being displayed in Mullins Library. For more information, visit http://libinfo.uark.edu/info/events.asp or call (479) 575-6702.

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Molly Boyd, public relations coordinator, University Libraries (479) 575-2962, mdboyd@uark.edu