Earlier this month, the George Eastman Museum launched an online
exhibition of 44 photographs as part of the Google Cultural Institute’s celebration
of Black History Month.
These images, part of a virtual exhibition in collaboration
with more than 40 other cultural and archival organizations — including the Baltimore
Museum of Art, Carnegie Hall, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the National
Archives — are accessible at g.co/blackhistory.
Eastman Museum’s exhibition was curated by Jamie Allen, William
Green, and Heather Shannon, from the Department of Photography.
“Our goal was to see what the history of photography told us
about black history and culture,” Allen says. “We found images of Black
Americans in the earliest processes and were able to discuss Frederick
Douglass’s thoughts on the daguerreotype, show how photographers like Lewis Hine
and Aaron Siskind used photography to promote social
reform, and highlight some contemporary photographers who reflect on this
history.”
Spanning the history of photography from daguerreotypes to contemporary
art, the Eastman Museum’s online exhibition provides an exploration of black history
and culture through photography. The selection of images features photographs made
by known and unknown photographers, and includes portraits of important
cultural figures such as Sojourner Truth, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Paul
Robeson, and Jesse Jackson. The works of contemporary Black photographers, such
as Eli Reed, Mickalene Thomas, and DawoudBey, are also represented.
“Working with Google Cultural Institute allowed us to post
items from our collection for educational use and to showcase them in a setting
where others can view related topics with ease,” Allen says. “It is also likely
that some of the visitors to GCI’s website have not heard of our museum, so it
is wonderful to be able to share who we are with this new audience.”
The entire digital exhibit includes thousands of artworks,
artifacts, and stories from cultural organizations across the United States. Not
only can visitors view the images and learn more about them through accompanying
text, the platform also allows them to share, compare, or save specific images in
a digital portfolio for future reference.
In addition, a selection of the photographs from the online exhibition
will be on view at the museum as part of its History of Photography rotation that
will open on March 12, 2016. For more information, visit eastman.org.
This article appears in Feb 17-23, 2016.
