The PHOTO REVIEW NEWSLETTER July / August 2020 BLACK LIVES MATTER Black Lives Matter. This is an indisputable statement. Around the world, murders of Black people by police and vigilantes have inspired uprisings, rage, despair, and demands for systemic change. While these demands often focus on the injustices of the government, non-Black people should all be asking ourselves what systems we are a part of and how we might influ- ence these systems to be part of necessary change. As you well know, I am the editor of The Photo Review. As you might know, I am a white, cisgender, straight man, old enough to be in the at-risk group during this pan- demic. Inhabiting these places of privilege, I consider it particularly important for me to ask myself what my place is in this struggle. My family is Jewish — my father and his family were immigrants escaping pogroms in Russia, and the reality of the Holocaust was ever present in my childhood. I do not com- pare these experiences with those of Black Americans — rather, I want to express that I see my fight against various forms of white supremacy on a very personal level. I know I must use what privilege I have to work toward the implementation of the values of the Black Lives Matter movement. John Dowell: The Healing Table, 2016, from Cotton: The Soft, Dangerous Beauty of the Past, archival pigment print, 27˝x34˝ My work is situated at the intersection of fine art photography, journalism, and the art market. So that is where I’ll start. The Photo Review is in discussion with several Black photographers and writers to increase our coverage of images and issues of importance to Black communities and other communities of color and their relationship to the medium of photography. But this is only one approach. I want to ask my peers and others: How does racial injustice come into play in our field? There are many questions we can ask ourselves. In many areas, why do works by Black artists sell for less than those of their white counterparts? On the flip side, it happens that the value of art that used to be the pride of Black communities has now ballooned to the point of making that work completely inaccessible to these communities. What so- cioeconomic classes does Black art inhabit? Sometimes it happens that white artists’ work about Black lives gets more attention than Black artists’ work about their own lives. We should be aware of the white gaze — the ways Black art and artists are seen by white people through a lens of ethnocentrism and spectacle. Are we (white art professionals) basing our judgment and analysis of Black art on our own art-values Stephen Perloff: Anti-Rizzo Rally, Philadelphia, PA, July 24, 1978. Police systems? Are we making space for Black brutality has a long history in the United States. artists to contextualize their own work, their own lives? William Earle Williams: 54th Massachusetts Memorial, Inscription Side, Boston Common, Boston, Massachusetts, 2015. The memorial monument honoring the men of the 54th Massachusetts Regiment by American sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens was commissioned by its veterans and their supporters in 1883 and dedicated in 1897. This memorial has been acclaimed as the greatest American sculpture of the 19th century. It commemorates the valiant efforts of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw and the men of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, the first Federal Government officially recognized Civil War regiment of African Americans enlisted in the North for the Union cause. Its location on Boston Common marks the spot where the regiment marched by the State House on May 28, 1863, as it left Boston to board sea trans- port for the South. The names of the black soldiers killed in action at Fort Wagner along with Shaw at the Battle of Fort Wagner on July 18, 1863, were not added to the inscription side of the monument until a 1981 restoration. Originally, only the five white officers killed were listed on the monument. At a time of riots and looting over racial injustice, some are saying that many museums have themselves looted — frequently in the form of white archaeologists taking valuable artifacts from nonwhite countries. Where does Black art come from? Have Black artists, communities, and histories been respected and duly compensated for work an arts institution benefits from? For centuries, museums have acquired less Black art and shown fewer exhibits with Black artists than their non-Black con- temporaries. African American history and art museums were the principal places to view Black artists’ work. Much progress has been made on this front but there is so much left to do. In which institutions does Black art live? Where is it visible? And I would like to bring up the issue of staffing in institutions. Who is on the board? In the leadership positions? Are they mostly or all white? In contrast, who mops their floors? Some of these questions will be very uncomfortable and difficult to confront, answer, or disrupt. But it is the job of non-Black people to ask ourselves these questions and work on their answers as best we can. In the meantime, I encourage you to support Black-owned galleries. Artsy recently compiled a list; there’s one on Shoppe Black and another on Blavity — those could be a great place to start — as well as See in Black (see page 14). Attend African American history museums. Attend exhibits of Black artists. Support Black artists. Take time to educate yourself on Black art history as well as contemporary Black artists. In solidarity, Stephen Perloff Thank you to Cressa Perloff for her help drafting this letter and contributing her insights and research to its development. Exhibitions As many places are beginning to open up — by state, county, or city — many galleries and museums are opening or planning on opening soon, some with regular if reduced hours, some by ap- pointment only, and most if not all requiring the wearing of masks and providing hand sanitizer — hopefully from a reputable source, including maybe some distilleries that have shifted production, and not the poison ones coming from some sketchy places. So check the websites or call or email before you go to see a show. While the coronavirus has been controlled to some extent in some parts of the country, it is surging to a frightening extent in the South and West, especially in places that opened far too soon — and it is still out there everywhere. It is obvious that the current administration has been an abject failure in dealing with Covid-19. Europe, which has done a much better job of tamping down cases, is beginning to open its borders — but not to Americans. We are pariahs in the rest of the world. At least there’s a lot of great content online, some of it listed here. And if you want a really silly and diverting farce, check out Space Force with Steve Carell and John Malkovich on Netflix. Stay safe. Stephen Perloff PHILADELPHIA AREA Annual Student Exhibition ’20 The Philip and Muriel Berman Museum of Art at Ursinus College, 601 E. Main St., Collegeville, PA 19426, 610/409-3500, www.ursinus.edu/berman, ongoing. View online. Robert Carter “Femme Noire,” The Space, 749 S. 8th St., Philadelphia, PA 19147, 215/279-7145, W–F 5–8, Sat 10–4, www. thespacephiladelphia.com, and by appt., through August. View a virtual tour here. Michael Ast: Salt Hollow, at Phillips Mill, New Hope, PA Closeness Philadelphia Photo Arts Center, 1400 N. Ameri- can St., Ste. 103, Philadelphia, PA 19122, 215/232-5678, www. philaphotoarts.org, T–Th 10–6, F–Sat 10–5, through July 31. View Teen Photo 2019-20 Philadelphia Photo Arts Center, Online online. Gallery, 1400 N. American St., Ste. 103, Philadelphia, PA 19122, 215/232-5678, www.philaphotoarts.org, T–Th 10–6, F–Sat 10–5, Communities to Come: A Toolkit Slought Foundation, 4017 ongoing. View online. Walnut St., Philadelphia, PA 19104, 215/222-9050, www.slought. org, T–F 12–5, ongoing. View online. Ten Years Philadelphia Photo Arts Center, 1400 N. American St., Ste. 103, Philadelphia, PA 19122, 215/232-5678, www.phila- Phillips Mill Photo Exhibition (PMPE) 2020! Phillips Mill, photoarts.org, T–Th 10–6, F–Sat 10–5, through December 31. View 2619 River Road (Route 32), New Hope, PA 18938, 215/862-0582, online www.phillipsmill.org Sun, W–Th 1–5, S–Sat 1–9, ongoing. View online. Bill Viola “Ocean without a Shore,” Morris Gallery, Pennsylva- nia Academy of the Fine Arts, 118 N. Broad St., Philadelphia, PA Rising Tides: Contemporary Art and the Ecology of Wa- 19102, 215/972-7600, www.pafa.org, T–F 10–5, Sat–Sun 11–5, ter The Michener Art Museum, 138 S. Pine St., Doylestown, ongoing. View online. PA 18901, 215/340-9800, www.michenerartmuseum.org, T–F 10–4:30, Sat 10–5, Sun 12–5, April 4–January 10. View online. Wildlife Photographer of the Year The Academy of Natural Sciences, 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia, PA Stephanie Rowden “The Collection Speaks,” The Philip and 19103, 215/299-1000, www.ansp.org, M–F 10–4:30, Sat–Sun Muriel Berman Museum of Art at Ursinus College, 601 E. Main 10–5, through August 23. View online. St., Collegeville, PA 19426, 610/409-3500, www.ursinus.edu, T–F 1–4, Sat–Sun 12–4:30, through December 20. View online. Senior Thesis Exhibition Cantor Fitzgerald Gallery, Jane NEW YORK CITY: DOWNTOWN AND SOHO Lutnick Fine Arts Center, Haverford College, 370 Lancaster Ave., Can You Save Superman? Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art, 26 Haverford, PA 19041, www.haverford.edu, M–F 10–5, Sat–Sun Wooster St., NY, NY 10013, 212/431-2609, www.leslielohman.org, 12–5, ongoing.