Sheila Pree Bright: Artist Talk

The Boston University Arts Initiative and Boston University Libraries are pleased to invite you to join us for an artist talk with nationally acclaimed photographer Sheila Pree Bright, in connection with an installation of her work, titled Re-Birth, in the Boston University Mugar Memorial Library.

Pree Bright, in conversation with BU student Claire Rich (CAS History of Art & Architecture '21), will discuss the installation Re-Birth, how it addresses topics of equity, access, and voting rights, and how her experience within the BU Library archives & in conversation with BU community shaped the work.

*Please note, only BU community members may visit Mugar Memorial Library and Re-Birth installation. Accompanying virtual events are free & open to the public*

For more information about the artist and other programs, please visit our website.

About the Speakers

Sheila Pree Bright is an International acclaimed photographic artist known for her photography series #1960Now, Young Americans, Plastic Bodies, and Suburbia. She is described as a softspoken woman who images speak boldly and truthfully, which portrays a combine wide-range knowledge of contemporary culture. The images she presents and capture of culture and sometimes counter-culture challenges ideas about narratives that are controlled by Western thought and power structures. Bright’s work is in the book and exhibition Posing Beauty in African American Culture. Also, Bright’s photographs appeared in the 2014 feature-length documentary Through the Lens Darkly: Black Photographers and the Emergence of a People. She has been exhibited at the High Museum of Art, Atlanta; Smithsonian National Museum of African American Museum, Washington, DC; The Museum of Contemporary Art, Cleveland; Turner Contemporary, Margate, Kent, England; The Art Gallery of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada and the Leica Gallery in New York. She is the recipient of several awards including Center Prize (2006). Her work is included in numerous private and public collections, to name a few; Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Washington, DC, Oppenheimer Collection: Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Overland, KS, National Center for Civil and Human Rights, Atlanta, GA, The High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA, The Museum of Contemporary Art, GA and The Library of Congress, Washington, DC, Pyramid Peak Foundation, Memphis, TN and the University of Georgia, Athen, GA. Bright’s recent series, #1960Now is featured in the New York Times.

Claire Rich is a senior at BU with a major in the History of Art. Alongside her major, she has two minors, Arts Leadership and Visual Arts, where she is able to explore all sides of the art world. While originally from Chicago, Illinois, she is proud to call Boston home. After graduating, Claire is pursuing a graduate degree in Art History with a specialization in Modern and Contemporary Art. She is particularly passionate about researching and writing about art historical theory, exhibition practices, and women in art.

Introduction by K. Matthew Dames, University Librarian, and Ty Furman, Managing Director of the Boston University Arts Initiative

To learn more about Sheila's installation at BU , please visit our website.