The Museum of Contemporary Photography (MoCP) is launching the “Say It with Pictures” Then and Now: Chicago’s African American Photographers 1890-1930 exhibit tonight. To launch the exhibit the MoCP will host a conversation between photographer and scholar Deborah Willis and art historian Amy Mooney. Willis is a photographer, artist, curator, and scholar. She is Professor and Chair of the Department of Photography & Imaging at New York University. Willis co-produced the 2014 documentary film Through a Lens Darkly: Black Photographers and the Emergence of a People. Among other honors, Willis has received the prestigious Guggenheim, Fletcher, and MacArthur fellowships. She is also the mother of renowned conceptual artist, Hank Willis Thomas.

The conversation and exhibit will look at the forgotten works of African American photographers working in Chicago from the 1890s through the 1930s. As the MoCP website explains, “The conversation is followed by a reception at the MoCP and an opportunity to view exhibitions including The Many Hats of Ralph Arnold: Art, Identity, and Politics and Echoes: Reframing Collage.” This event is free and open the public and the venue is wheelchair accessible.

Global Citizen Nari Safavi also joins us to tell us how to have an international good time on the weekend.