Photographing writers 

Amy H. Carberry Fine Arts Gallery, in B28, is presenting new collages by Keith Hollingworth entitled “40 Black Writers.” The series, started in 2012, features Sonia Sanchez, Alain Locke, Edwidge Danticat, Ntozake Shange, and James Baldwin, among many other Black writers whose wide range of thought, ideas and feelings are illustrated with portraits, stamps, and book art. This exhibition will be on view from October 7 through December 7, 2021. Keith and I will have a virtual interview as part of Carberry Conversations series later this month, and we’re working on creating a virtual tour for this exhibit as well. 

Due to the ongoing concerns about Covid, the gallery will be open by appointment only at this time. Please email Sondra Peron directly to schedule a timed-entry visit. For those interested in bringing your in-person class of students, contact Sondra Peron to make arrangements. The gallery windows do open and face masks are required. You can also watch the Keith Hollingsworth exhibit virtual tour. 

Looking at collage activity

First used as an artists’ technique in the early 20th century by Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso, “collage,” derived from the French verb “coller,” meaning to glue or to stick, is also a term for a work of art which contains paper, photographs, fabric or other mixed media affixed to a surface. In the exhibition on view at the Amy H. Carberry Fine Arts Gallery in B28, Keith Hollingworth created forty collages of Black writers he thinks are important literary figures by incorporating elements of portraiture, book covers and stamps.

The first step to analyzing Hollingworth’s art is to look at each collage separately for a few seconds noting what draws your eye and attention.

• What questions come up as you view each collage? 

• Then step back and look at each collage in relation to one another. Note how the artist arranged all forty collages in the gallery. Do you think this was intentional? 

• Which collage resonates the most with you, and why? 

• Which one repels you? 

• Do you see any patterns or paths between each work of art? 

• Are there any portraits or symbols that you recognize? 

• What three adjectives would you use to describe this art work to someone who is not in the gallery? 

• Of the forty collages, which collage stands out the most to you, and why?