The Power of Photography

On Wednesday, July 12, I was honored to be one of the panelists on The Power of Photography, a fundraising event hosted at David Richard Gallery by the New Mexico State Committee of the National Museum of Women in the Arts. The panel was held as one of the events in support of programming for the NMSC’s exhibition, History/Her Story, for which I was fortunate to write the catalog essay.

Facilitated by Merry Scully, chief curator at the New Mexico Museum of Art, the panel included artist/activist Maria Varela, author Lucy Lippard, and me. We discussed all kinds of issues and probably could have happily talked on into the night.

I was especially fascinated to hear from Maria, who took many photographs during her time in the South for the Students for Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (some of her shots are in the exhibition now, up through July 29). SNCC was one of those acronyms I grew up with, along with the NAACP, and later, SDS and AIM. I was very young at the time that Maria and Lucy were active in the sixties, but by the seventies the work they were doing had become part of my vocabulary, and my very genetic code, it seemed.

Lucy Lippard, of course, was active in New York City and helped many of us form how we thought about art and activism. I find it amazing that I could be on a panel with her, and that I count her as a friend.

Merry Scully did a lovely job keeping the panel discussion lively, and with facilitating members of the audience's comments and questions. Merry's intelligence never fails; we're lucky to have her in New Mexico.

As always, I want to thank David Richard Gallery for their support, and for the wonderful programming they present to our community.

#ThePowerofPhotography #MerryScully #LucyLippard #MariaVarela #DavidRichardGallery