Catherine Edelman Gallery is pleased to present a panel discussion, in conjunction with our upcoming gallery exhibition, “How do you see me?” that addresses issues about race, gender, and bias within the arts and the workplace.

Distinguished panelists include:
• Alanna Airitam, exhibiting artist
• Sheridan Tucker Anderson, Curatorial Fellow for Diversity in the Arts at the Museum of Contemporary Photography
• Jeffreen Hayes, Executive Director of Threewalls
• Kate Lorenz, Executive Director of Hyde Park Art Center

Catherine Edelman will moderate the conversation, held at 300 West Superior Street (3rd floor) on Thursday, October 18. Doors open at 5:30 pm. Guests are encouraged to visit the show at Catherine Edelman Gallery (lower level) before the discussion begins, as well as the exhibition on view at Weinberg/Newton Gallery in partnership with My Block, My Hood, My City. The discussion will begin at 6:00 pm with a reception to follow at Catherine Edelman Gallery.

RSVP here: https://bit.ly/2nDUjdx

“How do you see me?” brings together work by three women who confront the way African Americans are perceived in art, the work place, and through their physical appearance. How do you see me? features photographs by Alanna Airitam, Endia Beal and Medina Dugger. Each artist’s work will be presented in a unique and non-traditional manner. The show opens September 7 and runs through October 27, 2018.

About the panelists:

Alanna Aritiam is one of three artists featured in How do you see me? As a self-taught fine art photographer, Airitam creates portraits that help shift stagnant (and often negative) narratives about communities of color and other misrepresented and/or underrepresented people. Using photography as her delivery system, she offers the audience a look into a reality that is not based upon the limiting constraints of narrow media messaging about people of color but instead offers a glimpse into her belief about the necessity and beauty of diversity in culture. Airitam has recently participated in the San Diego Art Institute exhibition titled ABOUT-FACE. She was also the subject of an award-winning short film titled “From Haarlem to Harlem” about her series, The Golden Age, and has been featured in numerous publications, podcasts and speaking events around the subject of representation of people of color in the arts.

Sheridan Tucker Anderson is a Chicago based curator and art historian who explores cultural phenomena through visual art. With close study in both Postwar American and Contemporary Art, Anderson seeks to introduce new ideas of inclusion into the art historical canon. She has curated exhibitions at the School of the Art institute of Chicago, the Ryerson & Burnham Libraries at the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago Artists Coalition, the Museum of Contemporary Photography, as well as supported exhibitions at the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts, the Museum of Contemporary Photography and the Art Institute of Chicago. From 2014 to 2016 she served as the inaugural Andrew W. Mellon Undergraduate Curatorial Fellow at the Art Institute of Chicago. From 2016 to 2018, she served as curatorial research assistant at the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts at the University of Chicago, there she supported the Andy Warhol Foundation funded project The Ties that Bind Waves of Pan-Africanism in Contemporary Art and Society. She recently served as curatorial resident at the Chicago Artists Coalition’s HATCH Project. Currently, she serves as Curatorial Fellow for Diversity in the Arts at the Museum of Contemporary Photography where she works to diversify the museum’s collection and serves as research assistant for the Terra Funded exhibition The Many Hats of Ralph Arnold: Art, Identity and Politics. Recent publications include: Bordering the Imaginary: Ralph Arnold, Napoleon Bonaparte, and “The Hawaii Days” series (2018) and Of Memories and Forgetfulness (2017). Recent exhibitions include In Their Own Form: Contemporary Photography + Afrofuturism and Superficial Paradise. She holds a BA in Visual and Critical Studies from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and an MA in Art History from the University of Chicago.

Jeffreen Hayes, PhD is a trained art historian and curator, who merges administrative, curatorial and academic practices into her cultural practice of supporting artists and community development. Hayes is both an independent curator and the Executive Director of Threewalls, a non-profit contemporary art space based in Chicago. Hayes earned a PhD in American Studies from the College of William and Mary, a MA in Art History from Howard University, and a BA from Florida International University in Humanities. She has worked with several museums and cultural institutions across the country including Hampton University Museum, Library of Congress, the National Gallery of Art and Rebuild Foundation. Hayes held fellowships at Ithaca College in the Art History department and in the Cartoon and Caricature Division at Library of Congress as a Swann Foundation Fellow.

Kate Lorenz is the Executive Director of Hyde Park Art Center, and has been with the Art Center since 2002 when she started as an intern. A native of Nashville, TN, she earned her undergraduate degree from Northwestern University in 1999. She has a BA in Mathematical Methods in the Social Sciences and Psychology and received her MA in Humanities at the University of Chicago (MAPH). She has served on the Auxiliary Board of High Jump Chicago and has been a docent at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago since 2000. She is also on the board of the Development Leadership Consortium. Past experience includes working as a Management Consultant for PwC Consulting in Chicago.

About the moderator:

Catherine Edelman opened her Chicago gallery 30 years ago after completing her MFA in Photography at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Since its founding in 1987, the gallery quickly established itself as one of the leading galleries in the Midwest devoted to the exhibition of prominent contemporary photographers alongside local, new & young talent, showcasing a broad range of subject matter. The gallery exhibits in major art fairs throughout the country and is widely respected as a leader, educator and specialist in the field of contemporary photography. Catherine Edelman is an active member of the Association of International Photography Art Dealers (AIPAD) and currently serves as its president.

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Tags: Alanna Airitam, Catherine Edelman Gallery, Chicago, How do you see me?, How do you see me?: Panel Discussion, Jeffreen Hayes, Kate Lorenz, Near North Side, Sheridan Tucker Anderson