Photo Exhibition Celebrating Iconic Black Women in History Returns to National Portrait Gallery
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A stunning photo collection highlighting iconic Black women is on display at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery.
Titled, I Dream a World: Selections from Brian Lanker’s Portraits of Remarkable Black Women, the exhibition is a beautiful ode to Black women.
The exhibition features 25 images from the larger 75-piece “Remarkable Black Women” photo collection photographed by Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Brian Lanker.
The images first debuted in his 1989 book “I Dream a World: Portraits of Black Women Who Changed America.”
Included in the full photo collection are images of iconic Black women like Maya Angelou, Septima Poinsette Clark, Lena Horne, Barbara Jordan, Rosa Parks, and Leontyne Price. Poinsette Clark is featured on the cover of Lanker’s book — with her image being one of the most beloved from the collection over the decades.
The current exhibition is the second part of a series by the Portrait Gallery built around the photo collection.
Part one of the series debuted back in July of 2022, running through January of 2023.
The current exhibition will be on display through September 10.
“It was a wonderful, inspiring project to work on during such dark days,” said Ann M. Shumard, senior curator of photographs at the National Portrait Gallery.
The full collection of images was acquired in 2020 by the National Portrait Gallery.
“In 1987, award-winning photographer Brian Lanker launched an ambitious, two-year effort to photograph courageous, groundbreaking Black women whose lives and careers had left an indelible mark on the nation,” said Shumard in an interview with Smithsonian Magazine.
“We are delighted that these extraordinary portraits have joined the museum’s collection and will now be featured in this exhibition,” Shumard added.
I Dream a World is co-curated Shumard and Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw, who is the former senior historian and director of history, research and scholarly programs for the museum.
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