Next Talks & More | Artist Talks | Public Programs

Lambert Family Photography Symposium

Limited Seating Available

Collage image of two black-and-white photographs, a multiple exposure portrait by Rotimi Fani-Kayode and a street view of a figure by Ming Smith.

Discuss the impacts of photographers Ming Smith and Rotimi Fani-Kayodes works with featured artists, scholars, and community members.

Join us for an illuminating, two-day symposium highlighting the work of Smith and Fani-Kayode on view in the Wexner Center’s galleries. Come together with individuals who share an interest in photography to experience panel conversations, artist talks, in-gallery conversations, and social opportunities. 

Attendees are also invited to an evening keynote lecture featuring photographer and MacArthur Foundation Fellow Dawoud Bey and Wexner Center Executive Director Gaëtane Verna on Thursday, October 24.

Don’t miss this opportunity to engage in new thinking about contemporary photography practice and dive deeply into the work of Smith and Fani-Kayode.

Ming Smith's and Rotimi Fani-Kayodes exhibitions are part of the FotoFocus Biennial: backstories. Learn more about the program and related events.

IMAGE CAPTION    
From left to right: Rotimi Fani-Kayode, Four Twins, 1985; silver gelatin print, 20 x 24 in.; courtesy of Autograph, London. Ming Smith, Dakar Roadside with Figures (Dakar, Senegal), 1972; archival pigment print, 24 x 36 in.; courtesy of Ming Smith.

 

Program schedule

Thursday, October 24

Photography Symposium
9:30 AM–4:30 PM | Galleries and Performance Space
Immerse yourself in the exhibitions and contemporary photography practice.

  • Registration and light bites
    9:30–10 AM
  • Welcome, curator talk, and visit to the exhibitions
    10–11:30 AM
    Featuring guest curators Mark Sealy (virtual) and Kelly Kivland (in person).
  • Networking lunch
    11:30 AM–1 PM
    Please RSVP with any dietary needs.
  • Session 1: Ming Smith and Wind Chime
    1:15–2:45 PM
    Join us for a conversation around Ming Smiths work with curator LeRonn Brooks and Ohio State Department of Art Lecturer Marcus Morris. 
    Moderated by Urban Arts Space Manager of Community Learning and Experience Terron Banner.
  • Session 2: Choreography and dance in response to Ming Smith and Rotimi Fani-Kayode
    3–4:30 PM
    Experience a movement response session including a performance and conversation featuring Brother(hood) Dance! and Ron K. Brown’s EVIDENCE: A Dance Company. 
    Moderated by Ohio State Department of Dance Associate Professor Nyama McCarthy-Brown.
  • Reception
    5–6 PM | Lower Lobby
    Socialize and enjoy light bites and a cash bar before the lecture.
  • Dawoud Bey
    Lambert Family Lecture
    6 PM | Film/Video Theater
    Q&A moderated by Gaëtane Verna
    Bey shares a presentation around his contemporary photography practice, which examines and engages with the Black subject and often explores invisible histories of the Black presence in America. 

Friday, October 25

Photography Symposium
9:30 AM–noon | Galleries and Performance Space

  • Registration and light bites
    9:30–10 AM
  • Session 3: Rotimi Fani-Kayode and Tranquility of Communion
    10–11:30 AM
    Deepen your understanding of the life, work, and practice of Rotimi Fani-Kayode in a session featuring curator Ajamu X, scholar Ian Bourland, and art historian Wendy Grossman.
    Moderated by History of Art and Comparative Studies Associate Professor Sampada Aranke
  • Reflection, acknowledgments, and participant responses
    11:30 AM–noon
     

More about the speakers

Dawoud Bey chevron-down chevron-up

Groundbreaking artist and MacArthur Fellow Dawoud Bey examines the Black past and present. His photographs and film installations have been exhibited in museums and galleries throughout the United States and Europe. Bey’s work has been the subject of numerous solo museum exhibitions, including Dawoud Bey: An American Project organized by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art (2020–2022), and Elegy at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA) (2023–2024) and New Orleans Museum of Art (2024–2025). Bey was recently recognized by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2024) and has been the subject of several monographs, including Elegy (Aperture and VMFA, 2023), which chronicles Bey's history projects and landscape-based work. Bey lives and works in Chicago and New York. He is an alumnus of Yale University and is Professor Emeritus at Columbia College Chicago.

Mark Sealy chevron-down chevron-up

Professor Mark Sealy is Director of Autograph (London) and Professor of Photography, Rights and Representation at University of the Arts London. Author of two celebrated books published by Lawrence Wishart, Photography: Race, Rights and Representation (2022) and Decolonising the Camera: Photography in Racial Time (2019), Sealy is interested in the relationship between art, photography, social change, identity politics, race, and human rights. He has written for many of the world’s leading photographic journals, produced numerous artist publications, curated exhibitions, and commissioned photographers and filmmakers worldwide.  

Gaëtane Verna chevron-down chevron-up

Art historian and arts administrator Gaëtane Verna is the Wexner Center's executive director. Since 2012, Verna has been the director and artistic director of The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery, Toronto. She was executive director and chief curator of the Musée d’art de Joliette in Québec from 2006 to 2012. Prior to her appointment at Joliette, Verna served as curator of the Foreman Art Gallery at Bishop’s University (1999–2006) in Sherbrooke, Québec, while also teaching in the art history department of both Bishop’s University and the Université du Québec à Montréal.

Since 1998, Verna has curated and organized exhibitions by emerging, midcareer, and established Canadian and international artists. She has also edited and contributed essays to numerous books and catalogues.

The Lambert Family Photography Symposium is made possible by generous support from the Lambert Family Lecture Series Endowment Fund, which promotes dialogue about global issues in art and contemporary culture.

LEARNING & PUBLIC PRACTICE PROGRAMS MADE POSSIBLE BY
American Electric Power Foundation
CoverMyMeds
Huntington

ADDITIONAL SUPPORT PROVIDED BY

Ingram-White Castle Foundation
Ohio Arts Council

The Ohio State University Office of Outreach & Engagement
Milton and Sally Avery Arts Foundation
Martha Holden Jennings Foundation

SUPPORT FOR LEARNING & PUBLIC PRACTICE RESIDENCIES PROVIDED BY
Mike and Paige Crane

WEXNER CENTER PROGRAMS MADE POSSIBLE BY
Greater Columbus Arts Council

The Wexner Family

Institute of Museum and Library Services

Mellon Foundation  
Every Page Foundation  
Ohio Arts Council, with support from the National Endowment for the Arts

CampusParc

Nationwide Foundation

Lois S. and H. Roy Chope Fund of The Columbus Foundation
Ohio State’s Global Arts + Humanities Discovery Theme

The Columbus Foundation

Axium Packaging  


ADDITIONAL SUPPORT PROVIDED BY

Ohio State Energy Partners

Ohio History Fund/Ohio History Connection

David Crane and Elizabeth Dang
Melissa Gilliam and William Grobman

Rebecca Perry Damsen and Ben Towle

Close

Next Talks & More

Lambert Family Photography Symposium