In the museum’s
Mezzanine Gallery, “The Black Panthers: Making Sense of History” presents more
than 40 prints from the 1960s and ’70s by award-winning photographer Stephen
Shames. Shames, at the time enrolled as a student at the University
of California, Berkeley, gained access to the leaders of the
revolutionary Black Panther Party. The Black Panthers, today an iconic symbol
of ’60s political discourse and counterculture, had called for radical reforms
to empower African Americans through changes in education, employment, health
care and housing. Images of the party and the issues at hand helped to shape
public perception of the Black Panthers and their movement.
Shames’ photographs
provide a private, reflective portrayal of the group and the times. As an
artist who has garnered international acclaim, including the Kodak Crystal
Eagle Award for Impact in Photojournalism, his prints grace collections in the
National Portrait Gallery, the Smithsonian
American Art
Museum and the Corcoran Gallery of Art, among
others. Through Aperture, Shames has also published monographs regarding social
issues, including one—2006’s The Black
Panthers—detailing photographs and experiences related to this exhibition.
Some of Shames’
photographic visions have captured the concerns of the underprivileged
throughout the world, and some have even become the impetus for nonprofit
organizations such as L.E.A.D. Uganda, which was inspired by his funeral
photographs of a mother who left behind five orphans. L.E.A.D. Uganda later won
a grant and has helped to educate orphans, former underage soldiers and refugee
children.
On select Wednesday
evenings at 6 p.m., the Haggerty Museum hosts receptions to complement the
exhibition: On Sept. 15, history professor Andrew Witt discusses “Picking Up
the Hammer: Rethinking the Black Panther Party”; on Sept. 29, Stephen Shames
arrives for a gallery walk through the exhibition; on Oct. 6, Sister Anita
Price Baird from the Archdiocese of Chicago’s Office for Racial Justice offers
her thoughts on “Creating a Vision of a Post-Racial World.”
From Aug. 20-22, the city welcomes the arrival of the Milwaukee Domes Art Festival. Seventy-five juried artists will attend the event amid the beautiful displays at this local landmark on Friday, Aug. 20, noon-7 p.m., Saturday, Aug. 21, 10 a.m.-7 p.m., and Sunday, Aug. 22, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
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