BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//sebbo.net//ical-generator//EN NAME:DC Public Library X-WR-CALNAME:DC Public Library BEGIN:VEVENT UID:0deab97d-00ec-4e2d-99bb-0ac3b6d99252 SEQUENCE:0 DTSTAMP:20260829T094608Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250303T190000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250303T210000 SUMMARY:Author Talk: Kamala LOCATION:Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library - Central Library\nMartin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library - Central Library X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=Martin Luther King Jr. Mem orial Library - Central Library;X-APPLE-RADIUS=10;X-TITLE=Martin Luther Ki ng Jr. Memorial Library - Central Library:geo:38.8986823,-77.024871 GEO:38.8986823;-77.024871 DESCRIPTION:Dr. Deborah Willis and Kevin Merida discuss photojournalismâ €™s power and the historic Presidential campaign of the nation's first female vice president. .\nhttps://dclibrary.libnet.info/event/13019691 X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:

Curated by Deborah Willis and Kevin Merida \, "KAMALA: Her Historic\, Joyful\, and Auspicious Sprint to the White Hou se" is a visually captivating book featuring nearly 150 vibrant photograph s that capture the joy\, challenges\, and triumphs of Harris&rsquo\;s camp aign.

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This program is supported by the DC Public Library Foundatio n. Register and attend for your chance to get a free copy of the book cour tesy of the DC Public Library Foundation. Limited quantities available.

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For reasonable accommodations\, please contact the Center fo r Accessibility at 202-727-2142 or DCPLaccess@dc.gov. For ASL or tactile i nterpretation\, please allow at least seven (7) days notice.

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Meet the Authors

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Deborah Willis by Laylah Amatullah Barrayn. \;Deborah Willis\, Ph.D\, is U niversity Professor and Chair of the Department of Photography &\; Imag ing at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University and has affilia ted appointments with the College of Arts and Sciences\, Department of Soc ial &\; Cultural and the Institute of Fine Arts where she teaches cours es on Photography &\; Imaging\, iconicity\, and cultural histories visu alizing the black body\, women\, and gender. She is also the director of N YU&rsquo\;s Center for Black Visual Culture/Institute for African American Affairs. \;Her research examines photography&rsquo\;s multifaceted hi stories\, visual culture\, contemporary women photographers and beauty. &n bsp\;

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She received the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Fellowsh ip and was a Richard D. Cohen Fellow in African and African American Art\, Hutchins Center\, Harvard University\; a John Simon Guggenheim Fellow\, a nd an Alphonse Fletcher\, Jr. Fellow. She is a member of the American Acad emy of Arts and Sciences and received awards from the College Art Associat ion for Writing Art History (2021) and  \;the Outstanding Service Awar d from the Royal Photographic Society in the UK. She has pursued a dual pr ofessional career as an art photographer and as one of the nation's leadin g historians of African American photography and curator of African diaspo ric cultures.

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Willis is the author of \;The Black Civil War So ldier: A Visual History of Conflict and Citizenship\, Posing Beauty: Afric an American Images from the 1890s to the Present\; Out [o] Fashion Photogr aphy: Embracing Beauty\; Reflections in Black: A History of Black Photogra phers - 1840 to the Present\; Let Your Motto be Resistance &ndash\; Africa n American Portraits\; Family History Memory: Photographs by Deborah Willi s\; VANDERZEE: The Portraits of James VanDerZee\; and co-author of \;T he Black Female Body A Photographic History with Carla Williams\; Envision ing Emancipation: Black Americans and the End of Slavery with Barbara Krau thamer\; and Michelle Obama: The First Lady in Photographs \;(both tit les a NAACP Image Award Winner).

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She lectures widely and has co-ed ited books \;Women and Migration(s)\; \;authored many papers and a rticles on a range of subjects including \;The Image of the Black in W estern Art\, Gordon Parks Life Works\, Steidl\, Volume II\; America&rsquo\ ;s Lens in Double Exposure: Through the African American Lens\; \;&ldq uo\;Photographing Between the Lines: Beauty\, Politics and the Poetic Visi on of Carrie Mae Weems\,&rdquo\; in \;Carrie Mae Weems: Three Decades of Photography &\; Video\, and &ldquo\;Malick Sidibé\;: The Front of the Back View&rdquo\; in Self: Portraiture and Social Identity. \; Professor Willis is editor of \;Picturing Us: African American Identi ty in Photography\; and \;Black Venus 2010: They Called Her "Hottentot "\, which received the Susan Koppelman Award for the Best Edited Volume in Women's Studies by the Popular Culture/American Culture Association in 20 11.  \;

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Exhibitions of her artwork include: Monument Lab \ ;Staying Power\, \;Philadelphia\; \;100Years/100Women\, Park Avenu e Armory\,  \;In Conversation: Visual Meditations on Black Masculinity \, African American Museum Philadelphia\; MFON: Black Women Photographers\ , African American Museum Philadelphia\; In Pursuit of Beauty\, Express Ne wark\, Rutgers University\, Newark\, &ldquo\;Mirror Mirror&rdquo\; Express Newark\, Rutgers University\, Newark\, NJ\; A \;Sense of Place\, Fric k\, University of Pittsburgh\; \;Regarding Beauty\, University of Wisc onsin\, \;Interventions in Printmaking: Three Generations of African-A merican Women\, Allentown Museum of Art\; \;A Family Affair\, Universi ty of South Florida\; \;I am Going to Eatonville\, Zora Neale Hurston Museum\; \;Afrique: See you\, see me\; Progeny: Deborah Willis +Hank W illis Thomas. Gantt Center.

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Professor Willis&rsquo\;s curated exhi bitions include: &ldquo\;Framing Moments in the KIA&rdquo\; Kalamazoo Inst itute of the Arts\, Framing Beauty at the Henry Art Gallery\; "Reframing B eauty: Intimate Moments" at Indiana University\; &ldquo\;Migrations &\; Meanings in Art&rdquo\; Maryland Institute of the Arts\; &ldquo\;Converge nce&rdquo\;\, Joan Mitchell Center\, New Orleans\; &ldquo\;Out [o] Fashion Photography: Embracing Beauty\,&rdquo\; Henry Art Gallery\, University of Washington\, &ldquo\;Visualizing Emancipation\,&rdquo\; Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture\, &ldquo\;Gordon Parks: 100 Moments\,&rdquo\ ; Schomburg Center\; &ldquo\;Posing Beauty  \;Let Your Motto Be Resist ance: African American Portraits&rdquo\; at the International Center of Ph otography and\, &ldquo\;Social in Practice: The Art of Collaboration&rdquo \;\, Nathan Cummings Foundation.

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In addition to making art\, writi ng and teaching\, she has served as a consultant to museums\, archives\, a nd educational centers. She has appeared and consulted on media projects i ncluding the documentary films such as Through A Lens Darkly\, Question Br idge: Black Males\, a transmedia project\, which received the ICP Infinity Award 2015\, and American Photography\, PBS Documentary. Since 2006 she h as co-organized thematic conferences exploring &ldquo\;Black Portraitures& rdquo\; focusing on imaging the black body. She holds honorary degrees fro m Pratt Institute and the Maryland Institute\, College of Art. She is curr ently researching two projects on photography and the black arts movement and artists reimaging history. Deborah Willis was appointed Board Chair of the Andy Warhol Foundation and \;elected to the American Philosophica l Society.

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Kevin Merida is an independent jou rnalist\, storyteller and media executive. He is a contributing essayist t o The Washington Post Opinions section\, and a strategic adviser to the Ac ademy Award-winning Breakwater Studios.

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He is the former exe cutive editor of the Los Angeles Times. Under his leadership\, the newspap er won four Pulitzer Prizes and its first Oscar for the documentary short film\, &ldquo\;The Last Repair Shop\,&rdquo\; directed by Ben Proudfoot an d Kris Bowers. The Times also implemented a range of new initiatives\, inc luding the &ldquo\;Fast Break Desk&rdquo\; for breaking news and trending topics\, &ldquo\;the 404&rdquo\; social content creation team\, the Latino identity and culture vertical &ldquo\;De Los\,&rdquo\; and a reimagined c limate\, science and health coverage department. \; \;

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Bef ore joining the Times in June 2021\, Merida was a senior vice president at ESPN and editor in chief of The Undefeated (now Andscape)\, a multimedia platform that explores the intersections of race\, sports\, and culture. D uring his tenure at ESPN\, he also oversaw the investigative/news enterpri se unit\, the shows &ldquo\;Outside the Lines&rdquo\; and &ldquo\;E60\,&rd quo\; and chaired ESPN&rsquo\;s Editorial Board. While at ESPN\, the journ alism he helmed received three Sports Emmys. \;

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Before joining ESPN\, Merida spent 22 years at the Washington Post in a variety of repor ting\, writing and leadership roles. He covered Congress and national poli tics\, was a longform feature writer for the Style section\, a columnist f or the Sunday magazine\, associate editor\, national editor\, and managing editor for news and features coverage. As managing editor\, he helped lea d The Post to four Pulitzer Prizes and the paper embarked on a digital tra nsformation that made it one of the fastest growing news organizations in the country. \;

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Earlier in his career\, Merida was a general a ssignments reporter at The Milwaukee Journal. He also spent 10 years at Th e Dallas Morning News in various roles\, including covering local and nati onal politics\, the White House\, and overseeing foreign and national news coverage. \;

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Merida is co-author of the critically acclaimed &ldquo\;Supreme Discomfort: The Divided Soul of Clarence Thomas\,&rdquo\; the bestselling &ldquo\;Obama: The Historic Campaign in Photographs\,&rdqu o\; and &ldquo\;Kamala: Her Historic\, Joyful and Auspicious Sprint to the White.&rdquo\; He also is the editor of and a contributor to the antholog y\, &ldquo\;Being a Black Man: At the Corner of Progress and Peril\,&rdquo \; based on an award-winning Washington Post series.

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He has been h onored with numerous awards for journalism\, including from the University of Missouri\, the University of Kansas\, and the University of Michigan. In 2020\, he was given the Chuck Stone Lifetime Achievement Award by the N ational Association of Black Journalists\, and was named NABJ&rsquo\;s Jou rnalist of the Year in 2000. In 1990\, Merida was a Pulitzer Prize finalis t as part of a Dallas Morning News team reporting on the world&rsquo\;s &l dquo\;hidden wars.&rdquo\; \;

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Merida is a member of the Pulitzer Prize Board\, the L.A. Local News Initiative Board\, The Video Co nsortium Board\, the KFF Board of Trustees\, the Boston University Board o f Trustees\, the Fallen Journalists Memorial Foundation Board of Advisors\ , and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. \;

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He is marr ied to author and essayist Donna Britt\, and they have three sons&ndash\;J ustin\, Darrell and Skye&ndash\;and a grandson\, Syd.  \;

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Meet the Moderator

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Eva McKend joined CNN's Washi ngton D.C. bureau in September 2021 as a National Politics Reporter. She p reviously served as an on-air congressional correspondent\, reporting for Spectrum&rsquo\;s 24-hour news stations across the country from the nation &rsquo\;s capital with a special focus on Kentucky's congressional delegat ion. Eva also filed reports for other Spectrum News channels including NY1 and Bay News 9.​

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She has become known in Washington for he r pointed questions to people in leadership\, getting then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to confirm on the record that climate change is be ing exacerbated by humans and that he wasn&rsquo\;t going to be an &ldquo\ ;impartial juror&rdquo\; in President Donald Trump&rsquo\;s first impeachm ent trial. Her question to McConnell on reparations for slavery elicited h is most robust rejection of the concept to date and drove the news cycle n ationwide for several days.

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Eva&rsquo\;s series of reports on Blac k hemp farmers following the crop&rsquo\;s legalization in the 2018 Farm B ill earned her a first-place prize in enterprise and investigative broadca st reporting from the Society of Professional Journalists Louisville chapt er. She was also nominated for an Ohio Valley Regional Emmy for the work.< /p>\n

​Eva is a regular guest on the WAMU/NPR program 1A\, distri buted to more than 400 public radio stations across the U.S.

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From 2015-18\, she served as an anchor at WCAX-TV\, the market-leading CBS affi liate in Vermont where she was also known for her tough interviews with el ected officials. She was named a Rising Star by Vermont Business Magazine in 2017.

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Before Vermont\, Eva worked as a reporter for Spectrum Ne ws Hudson Valley from 2012-14. During her time in the region\, she covered many stories as the Sullivan County reporter that received national and i nternational attention including the murder trial of Paul Novak and the ma lfeasance of a village mayor\, securing surveillance video from his high p rofile arrest via FOIA request\, footage that went on to go viral. Her ong oing coverage of an illegal demolition in Monticello was recognized by the New York State Associated Press for Best Continuing Coverage. The AP also gave her a nod for General Excellence in Individual Reporting.

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Sh e also spent a summer as a Washington\, D.C.-based correspondent for Sprin gfield\, Mo.\, CBS affiliate KOLR/KOZL.

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​Eva is a graduate of Swarthmore College and earned her master's degree from the S.I. Newhous e School of Communications at Syracuse University through the Turner Diver sity Fellowship. She is a proud member of the National Association of Blac k Journalists.

\nhttps://dclibrary.libnet.info/event/13019691 URL;VALUE=URI:https://dclibrary.libnet.info/event/13019691 ATTACH:https://static.libnet.info/images/events/dclibrary/Kamala_Book_Cove r.png END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR