A talk with Irving Penn interpretation partners

Hear from the interpretation partners for Irving Penn. This talk features Papua New Guinea scholar, artist, and curator Dr. Michael Mel, local San Francisco photographer Baidi Kamagate, philosopher, political science, and art critic Dr. Seloua Luste Boulbina, and curator and scholar Dr. Andrés Garay Albújar. The program will be moderated by director of interpretation Abram Jackson and curator of American art Emma Acker.
The exhibition was organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art in collaboration with The Irving Penn Foundation, and in association with the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.
Featured speakers
Dr. Michael Mel, Papua New Guinea scholar, artist and curator
Dr. Seloua Luste Boulbina, philosopher, political scientist, and art critic
Dr. Andrés Garay Albújar, curator and scholar
Baidi Kamagate, local San Francisco photographer
Moderated by
Abram Jackson, director of interpretation
Emma Acker, curator of American art and coordinating curator for Irving Penn
About the speakers
Curator and scholar Dr. Andrés Garay Albújar is an expert in the rich photographic tradition that existed in Cuzco, Peru prior to Penn’s arrival.
Baidi Kamagate is a photographer residing in the vibrant city of San Francisco, and responds to Penn’s work through his unique lens as a local artist.
Philosopher, political scientist, and art critic Dr. Seloua Luste Boulbina offered a response to the photographs Penn made in Morocco.
Dr. Michael Mel is from the Mogei community in the Mt. Hagen area of Highlands in Papua New Guinea. A performance artist, lecturer, curator, and teacher, he is currently director of the Melanesian Institute for Arts and Culture at the University of Papua New Guinea.
About the moderators
Emma Acker is curator of American art at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, and the coordinating curator for Irving Penn. She recently served as installation curator for Sargent and Spain (2023). In 2018, she organized Cult of the Machine: Precisionism and American Art, which was identified by the Washington Post as one of the top two surveys of American art that year.
Abram Jackson joined the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco as inaugural director of interpretation in June 2022. Jackson utilizes ethnic studies theories and DEIA practices in partnership with staff to incorporate more inclusive narratives into didactics. One of his contributions to this effort is the interpretation partners program, which incorporates local voices into the interpretive framing for special exhibitions with themes connected to lived experiences of local and global communities.
Sponsors
Major Support
The Bernard Osher Foundation
Learn more about the exhibition: www.famsf.org/...
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