The opening of a trio of exhibitions on view in the Emerson Gallery was celebrated Feb.12 with a talk by William Earl Williams '73 whose work comprises two of the shows, Celebrating Unsung Heroes and Unsung Places in Photographs and Uncovering the Path to Freedom: Photographs of the Underground Railroad. The black and white photographs illustrate two aspects of African American history: largely unknown Civil War battle sites that involved black soldiers and sites in Central New York significant to the Underground Railroad. Williams explained that his interest in the latter subject originated while attending Hamilton. He discussed the photos as historical documents, as formal artistic works and as artifacts with temporally significant meanings evoking in the viewer reflection on memory, dream and culture. The frequently haunting images inspire a reverence for the historical events as well as the passage of time.
Williams received his bachelor's degree in history at Hamilton College in 1973 and went on to Yale University where he received an MFA in Fine Arts. He has been a professor of fine arts at Haverford College in Pennsylvania since 1978, and a curator of photography since 1979.
The exhibitions are on view until April 13, 2008 with Emancipation and Denigration: Thomas Nast Pictures Black America, curated by Hamilton Walcott-Bartlett Professor of Religious Studies Jay G. Williams '54, P'83, GP'11. Emerson Gallery...
