Optics: A New Way of Seeing Contemporary Culture, Session 1

The first session of our new discussion series focuses on the role of imagery in the #TakeAKnee and Confederate monument controversies. Whether through viral images of NFL players and owners standing together or the material culture of Confederate statues, visual culture is intrinsic to these debates about race, memory, and national identity. Optics series host Jillian Steinhauer and New Yorker staff writer Doreen St. Félix lead audience members through images, examples, and conversation.

Bios

Jillian Steinhauer is a writer and editor living in Brooklyn, NY. She won the 2014 Best Art Reporting Award from the US chapter of the International Association of Art Critics for her work at Hyperallergic, where she was formerly the senior editor. Her writing has also appeared in the Guardian, the New Republic, and the Los Angeles Review of Books, among other publications. She writes mainly about art and politics, but also sometimes about cats. An essay by her was commissioned for the book Cat Is Art Spelled Wrong, published by Coffee House Press in 2015.

Doreen St. Félix is a staff writer at the New Yorker. Previously, she was a culture writer for MTV News and the editor-at-large at Lenny Letter.