Most people likely agree that it is easier to appreciate photos of people we recognize or know: identity becomes an intimate way of appreciating their likeness. But what happens when identity is lost or forgotten? Do we still need to know these individuals to appreciate their likeness, or can a photograph stand on its own as an aesthetic or material object? And what is our responsibility today if the forgotten individual is Black, Indigenous, or a Person of Color? This presentation will highlight a selection of portrait photographs in the exhibition Time and Face: Daguerreotypes to Digital Prints to consider ways in which biography and portrait photography intersect and diverge from one another.
Roberto C. Ferrari is the Curator of Art Properties, based in Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library at Columbia, since 2013. With his team he oversees the University’s permanent collection, coordinating educational and curatorial projects across all disciplines. He has curated exhibitions, published essays, and given presentations worldwide on historic and modern portrait paintings, sculptures, and photographs, and other related topics in art history. Time and Face: Daguerreotypes to Digital Prints is his most recent exhibition.
