Through a Lens Darkly: Black Photographers and the Emergence of a People

Beginning with his own family album, director Thomas Allen Harris takes a historical look at the way black photographers and their subjects have used the medium for social change. By also examining the work of fellow photographers Carrie Mae Weems, Lorna Simpson, Glenn Ligon, and Deborah Willis (who is also a co-producer and whose book Reflections in Black was an inspiration for the film), Harris confronts popular culture’s notion of “blackness” and “black people.” (92 mins., video) The work of Weems, Simpson, and Ligon was featured in the acclaimed exhibition Blues for Smoke, which made a stop at the Wexner Center last fall.