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Through American Eyes: The Mahatma and Margaret Bourke-White

Time: Nov. 15, 2019, 10 a.m. - noon

Location: Lemke Room, Bird Library

Sumathi Ramaswamy (Duke University)

Following a public lecture earlier in the week, Ramaswamy conducts this mini-seminar in the Special Collections Research Center of Bird Library.

Focusing on an iconic set of photographs of Mohandas K. Gandhi taken by the American photographer Margaret Bourke-White when she visited India in the 1940s, this mini-seminar considers the role played by the camera in creating and consolidating an image of Gandhi as Mahatma.  In addition, Ramaswamy explores how iconic photographs (such as Bourke-White’s) have an afterlife in the work of the contemporary artist of India who turns to them as productive resource but also as problematic inheritance and provocative incitement.

RSVP to Emera Bridger by November 5. Include any accessibility accommodation requests.

Carol Babiracki, Romita Ray, South Asia Center