We can't wait for everyone to see the stunning James Baldwin exhibition, Turkey Saved My Life: Baldwin in Istanbul. The exhibit officially opens December 12. Learn more about it from our curator below!
Contemporary art exhibition & program curator working in the public sector in support of visionary living artists.
I'm honored to have co-Curated the exhibition Turkey Saved My Life: Baldwin in Istanbul, 1961-1971 opening December 12th at Central Library. The show captures an exceptionally fertile period for the incomparable author, defined by his sojourn to a country that would allow him to gain critical distance from, and new perspectives on, America and its poisonous currents of racism and homophobia. Consisting of over 55 photographs by Turkish photographer Sedat Pakay, one of Baldwin’s close friends, the exhibition provides an intimate travelogue portrait of an understudied yet pivotal time in Baldwin’s life, wherein he wrote The Fire Next Time, Another Country and other vital texts. We open the show with a live reading of commissioned essays by two leading authors in Central Library’s Grand Lobby: Elif Batuman and Tavia Nyong'o. Then, we delve into the significance of Baldwin’s life abroad in Istanbul and his ongoing relevance to our culture and struggles for liberation through a panel discussion in the Dweck Auditorium with scholars and critics David Leeming, Robert F. Reid-Pharr , and Magdalena J. Zaborowska. You can register for the opening panel discussion here: https://lnkd.in/gFd6Hthq