Deborah Willis

Deborah Willis (born February 5, 1948) is a contemporary African American artist, photographer, curator of photography, photographic historian, author, and educator.^[1] Among other awards and honors she has received, she was a 2000 MacArthur Fellow.^[2] She is currently Professor and Chair of the Department of Photography and Imaging at Tisch School of the Arts of New York University.^[3]

Biography

Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Willis is the mother of Hank Willis Thomas.^[1][4] She is also known as "Deb Willis."^[5] She survived a diagnosis of breast cancer in 2001.^[6]

Her degrees include a B.F.A. in photography from Philadelphia College of Art in 1975; a M.F.A. in photography from Pratt Institute in 1979; a M.A. in art history from City University of New York in 1986; and a Ph.D. from the Cultural Studies Program of George Mason University in 2001.^[7] She was the curator of photographs and the prints/exhibition coordinator at the Arthur Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture at the New York Public Library between 1980 and 1992, after which she became exhibitions curator at the Anacostia Museum and Center for African American History and Culture of the Smithsonian Institution for eight years.^[1][7] Between 2000 and 2001 she was Lehman Brady Visiting Joint Chair Professor in Documentary Studies and American Studies at Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.^[8] She then joined the faculty of New York University.^[1]

Awards and honors

Willis has received numerous awards and honors, including:

• 2005: Guggenheim Fellow, John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation^[9]
• 2005: Fletcher Fellow, Fletcher Foundation^[10]
• 2003: Honorary doctorate, Maryland Institute College of Art^[6]
• 2000: MacArthur Fellow^[2]
• 1995: Infinity Award for Writing, International Center of Photography^[11]

Artistic and photographic works

As an artist and photographer, Willis is represented by Bernice Steinbaum Gallery in Miami^[12] and Charles Guice Contemporary in Berkeley, California.^[13] Her exhibitions have included:

• "Progeny," Bernice Steinbaum Gallery, Miami, 2008.^[14] The exhibition traveled as "Progeny: Deborah Willis and Hank Willis Thomas" in 2009 to New York and to Sacramento, California.^[4][15]
• "Regarding Beauty," University of Wisconsin–Madison, 2003, containing "photographs and autobiographical quilts."^[16]
• "Deborah Willis: Tied to Memory," Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, 2000.^[17]
• "Deborah Willis," Hughley Gallery & Objects, Atlanta, 1992, involving "small narrative quilts built around historical photographs, documents and family snapshots."^[18]

Curated exhibitions

Exhibitions that Willis has curated include:

• "Posing Beauty in African American Culture," showing Fall 2009 at the Tisch School of the Arts, New York University, and touring in the U.S. through December 2012.
• "Reflections in Black," Arts and Industries Building, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, 2000, on African American photography.^[19] The exhibition in whole or in part traveled widely in the U.S. between 2000 and 2003.^[20][21]
• "Constructed Images: New Photography," which traveled between 1989 and 1992.^{[7][22][23][24]}

Books

• Willis, Deborah; Hank Willis Thomas; Kalia Brooks (2009). Progeny: Deborah Willis and Hank Willis Thomas. New York: Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery, Columbia University. ISBN 9781884919237. 
• Willis, Deborah (2009). Posing beauty: African American images from the 1890s to the present. New York: W. W. Norton. ISBN 9780393066968. 
• Willis, Deborah; Kevin Merida (2008). Obama: the historic campaign in photographs. New York: Amistad. ISBN 9780061733093. 
• Willis, Deborah (2007). Let your motto be resistance: African American portraits. Washington, DC: National Museum of African American History and Culture, Smithsonian Institution. ISBN 9781588342423. 
• Wallis, Brian; Deborah Willis (2005). African American vernacular photography: selections from the Daniel Cowin Collection. New York: International Center of Photography. ISBN 3865212255. 
• Willis, Deborah (2005). Family history memory: recording African American life. New York: Hylas. ISBN 1592580866. 
• Willis, Deborah; Sean Moore; Karen Prince (2004). Black: a celebration of a culture. Irvington, NY: Hylas. ISBN 1592580513. 
• Lewis, David L; Deborah Willis (2003). A small nation of people: W.E.B. Du Bois and African-American portraits of progress. New York: Amistad. ISBN 0060523425. 
• Willis, Deborah; Carla Williams (2002). The black female body: a photographic history. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. ISBN 1566399289. 
• Crouch, Stanley; Deborah Willis (2002). One shot Harris: the photographs of Charles "Teenie" Harris. New York: Harry N. Abrams. ISBN 0810932725. 
• Willis, Deborah (2000). Reflections in Black: a history of Black photographers, 1840 to the present. New York: W.W. Norton. ISBN 0393048802. 
• Cottman, Michael H; Deborah Willis; Linda Tarrant-Reid (1996). The family of black America. New York: Crown Trade Paperbacks. ISBN 051788822X. 
• Willis, Deborah; Jane Lusaka (1996). Visual journal: Harlem and D.C. in the thirties and forties. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press. ISBN 1560986913. 
• Cottman, Michael H; Deborah Willis (1995). Million man march. New York: Crown Trade Paperbacks. ISBN 0517887630. 
• Willis, Deborah; Jane Lusaka (1994). Imagining families: images and voices. Washington, DC: National African American Museum, a Smithsonian Institution Project. ISBN 1885892004. 
• Willis, Deborah (1994). Picturing us: African American identity in photography. New York: New Press. ISBN 1565841077. 
• Driskell, David C; David L Lewis; Deborah Willis (1994). Harlem Renaissance: art of Black America. New York: Studio Museum in Harlem, Abradale Press. ISBN 0810981289. 
• Willis, Deborah (1993). J.P. Ball, daguerrean and studio photographer. New York: Garland. ISBN 0815307160. 
• Willis-Braithwaite, Deborah; Rodger C Birt (1993). VanDerZee, photographer, 1886-1983. New York: H.N. Abrams. ISBN 0810939231. 
• Willis, Deborah (1992). Early Black photographers, 1840-1940: 23 postcards. New York: New Press. ISBN 1565840070. 
• Willis, Deborah; Lorna Simpson (1992). Lorna Simpson. San Francisco: Friends of Photography. ISBN 0933286600. 
• Willis, Deborah; Howard Dodson (1989). Black photographers bear witness: 100 years of social protest. Williamstown, MA: Williams College Museum of Art. ISBN 0913697095. 
• Willis-Thomas, Deborah (1989). An illustrated bio-bibliography of Black photographers, 1940-1988. New York: Garland. ISBN 082408389X. 
• Driskell, David C; David L Lewis; Deborah Willis Ryan (1987). Harlem Renaissance: art of Black America. New York: The Studio Museum in Harlem, Harry N. Abrams. ISBN 0810910993. 
• Willis-Thomas, Deborah (1985). Black photographers, 1840-1940: an illustrated bio-bibliography. New York: Garland. ISBN 0824091477. 

Footnotes

1. ^ ^{a b c d} The HistoryMakers. Deborah Willis biography. June 27, 2007. Accessed August 1, 2009.
2. ^ ^{a b} John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. MacArthur Fellows. July 2000. Accessed August 1, 2009.
3. ^ New York University. Maurice Kanbar Institute. Photography & Imaging. Accessed August 1, 2009.
4. ^ ^{a b} Dalkey, Victoria. Mother, son: studies in ancestry and kinship. Sacramento Bee, July 31, 2009. Accessed August 1, 2009.
5. ^ New York University. Faculty directory. Photography & Imaging. Deborah Willis, Ph.D. Accessed August 1, 2009.
6. ^ ^{a b} Royster-Hemby, Christina. Reflected in the lens. After years of chronicling the African-American experience, photographer and former MICA professor Deborah Willis turns the camera on herself. Baltimore City Paper, March 30, 2005. Accessed August 2, 2009.
7. ^ ^{a b c} Deborah Willis résumé. Bernice Steinbaum Gallery. Accessed August 1, 2009.
8. ^ Duke University. Lehman Brady Visiting Joint Chair Professor in Documentary Studies and American Studies at Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Accessed August 2, 2009.
9. ^ John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Deborah Willis. Accessed August 2, 2009.
10. ^ Associated Press. 12 get grants for efforts on race - Anita Hill among honorees given $50,000 each. Washington Post, April 16, 2005.
11. ^ Infinity Awards. Past recipients 1985-1995. Accessed August 2, 2009.
12. ^ Bernice Steinbaum Gallery. Artist's page. Accessed August 1, 2009.
13. ^ Charles Guice Contemporary. Deborah Willis. Accessed August 1, 2009.
14. ^ Bernice Steinbaum Gallery. Exhibitions 2005-2009. Accessed August 4, 2009.
15. ^ Columbia University, Miriam & Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery. Progeny: Deborah Willis and Hank Willis Thomas. Accessed August 2, 2009.
16. ^ Martell, Chris. Beautiful dreamers - photographer focuses on the threads of beauty that run through the African-American community. Wisconsin State Journal, February 15, 2003.
17. ^ Schmitz-Rizzo, Margaret. Kemper Museum displays artist's keepsakes. Kansas City Star, July 5, 2000.
18. ^ Fox, Catherine. Art review. Atlanta Journal and Constitution, August 28, 1992.
19. ^ John-Hall, Annette. Light and shadow. While Smithsonian curator Deborah Willis is proud of "Reflections in Black," an exhibition of African American photography, suffering clouds her satisfaction. On opening night, her beloved nephew - who helped with the research - was killed in Philadelphia. Philadelphia Inquirer, April 2, 2000.
20. ^ Traveling exhibition venues (for Reflections in Black). Accessed August 2, 2009.
21. ^ Boxer, Sarah. Photography review; black photographers who are trying to get blackness right. New York Times, November 9, 2001. Accessed August 2, 2009.
22. ^ Fraser, C. Gerald. Harlem curator helps redefine photography. New York Times, August 6, 1989. Accessed August 2, 2009.
23. ^ Smith, Virginia. Art review - "Constructed Images: New Photography." Atlanta Journal and Constitution, October 31, 1990.
24. ^ Hagen, Charles. Review/photography; How racial and cultural differences affect art. New York Times, August 23, 1991. Accessed August 2, 2009.

Further reading

• Headley, Jennifer (2006). "Deborah Willis-Kennedy". In Warren, Lynne. Encyclopedia of Twentieth-Century Photography. New York: Routledge. pp. 1687–1689. ISBN 1579583938 

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Name	Willis, Deborah
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Date of birth	February 5, 1948
Place of birth
Date of death
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