|
|
|
The Norman and Louis Miller Lecture in Public Understanding
Rick Nahmias, Photographer
“Diversity, Community, and the Margins of American
Society”
October 5, 2010
6:30 p.m.
This
public lecture will take place in the Fort Howard Theater of the F.K.
Bemis International Center, followed by an exhibition and reception at
the Bush Art Center.
Witness to the Margins
Rick
Nahmias is a photographer, writer, and filmmaker whose work has been
shown across North America, Europe, and Asia. He is best known for
documenting the lives and struggles of numerous marginalized
communities. His acclaimed body of work exploring California's
agricultural workforce "The Migrant Project:
Contemporary California Farm Workers," became a traveling photography
and bilingual text exhibition which has toured over three dozen museums,
universities, and cultural centers across the country, and was
published in 2008 by University of New Mexico Press.
Nationally Recognized
Nahmias' images and writing have been profiled and published in national newspapers, magazines, journals and news weeklies such as The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post,
The San Francisco Chronicle and The San Diego Tribune. His work has
been presented on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives, is
part of the permanent collection of the National Museum of American
History at the Smithsonian, and resides in several private and public
collections across the country.
His work has been funded by
organizations such as The Durfee Foundation, The Columbia Foundation and
The Pew Charitable Trusts. As an Artist-in-Residence with LA Theatre
Works and Facing History & Ourselves, he has created and taught
photo-essay workshops on social justice and environmental issues. In
recognition of "The Migrant Project," he was awarded a U.S.
Congressional Citation, and the inaugural Jason K. Stern Scholarship by
the Julia Dean Photo Workshops in Los Angeles. In recognition of his
short film, "A Fate Foretold," he was honored by Kodak as one of six
up-and-coming filmmakers at the Sundance Film Festival.
Prayers of the Disinherited
His project, "Golden States of Grace: Prayers of the Disinherited," on display September 27 to October 22 at the Bush Art Center
here at St. Norbert College, is a photographic, text and audio exhibit
which documents eleven marginalized communities at prayer. The project,
which highlights the spirituality of groups ranging from Jewish addicts
merging Torah study with the Twelve Steps to a Muslim community in Santa
Ana composed of survivors of the Cambodian genocide, has just been
published as a book by University of New Mexico Press.
Sr. Helen Prejean, author of Dead Man Walking, writes: "Golden States of Grace brings together such
depth and diversity of faith and humanity, that it seems
three-dimensional. It is hard to think of another body of work which
looks so compassionately at the faces and voices of disinherited peoples
while asking us to think deeply about and how we own or disown those on
the margins. This is a book for anyone who has ever felt left out,
pushed out, or just wondered what it feels like to be on the outside –
that is, a book for all of us." Nahmias’ multimedia exhibition “Last Days of the Four Seasons,” which
tells the story of the final years of the last Catskill Mountains
bungalow colony for Holocaust survivors, is now also touring the
country.
This lecture, which will take place in the Fort Howard
Theater, will be followed by a gallery talk and reception at the Bush Art
Center, also located on the campus of St. Norbert College. The
exhibition, “Golden States of Grace,” will be on display and books will
be available for purchase.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
