John Wilmerding Symposium on American Art and Community Celebration

Afro-Atlantic Histories

The Wilmerding Symposium will gather literary and visual artists to reflect on how art responds to and shapes both official and overlooked narratives wrought by the transatlantic slave trade and its legacies.

Participate in free virtual events and an in-person day of community activities. All events are free; registration is required.

Made possible by a grant from the Alice L. Walton Foundation

Symposium
April 26–28, 2022

Festival
Saturday, April 30, 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Session I: “the afterlife of slavery”

Tuesday, April 26, 2022
6:00–7:00 p.m.
Registration Required

Presentations by Rosana Paulino and Cameron Rowland on how their work explores the lasting legacy of slavery. Followed with a discussion moderated by Steven Nelson, dean, Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, National Gallery of Art.

Session II: “I built this altar for them”: Mining the Archives to Uplift Untold Stories

Wednesday, April 27, 2022
1:00–2:00 p.m.
Registration Required

Presentations on archival research–based practices that create and uplift missing narratives by Erica Buddington, Nona Faustine, and Honorée Fanonne Jeffers. Followed with a discussion moderated by Sheila McDaniel, administrator, National Gallery of Art.

Session III: “Blackness is not peripheral to the American project; it is the foundation”

Thursday, April 28, 2022
1:00–2:00 p.m.
Registration Required

Presentations on the role of history and memory in shaping American culture and identity by Clint Smith, Renée Stout, and Hank Willis Thomas. Followed with discussion moderated by E. Carmen Ramos, chief curatorial and conservation officer, National Gallery of Art.

Related Resources

Participant Biographies

Exhibition Information

Afro-Atlantic Histories Events

Banner detail: Zanele Muholi, Ntozakhe II, (Parktown), 2016, photographic wall mural from digital file, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Alfred H. Moses and Fern M. Schad Fund, 2021.88.1, © Zanele Muholi. Courtesy of the artist, Yancey Richardson, New York, and Stevenson Cape Town/Johannesburg