Caribbean Scholar to Speak at UA Symposium in Art History

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The University of Alabama and UAB joint master’s in art history program is presenting the 14th annual Graduate Student Symposium in Art History Friday, Feb. 20 from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. in 205 Gorgas Library on the UA campus.

The program will be presented by current graduate students and keynote speaker Dr. Krista Thompson, assistant professor of art history at Northwestern University. Thompson will discuss “‘The Sound of Light:’ Reflections on Art History in the Visual Culture of Hip-Hop.” Thompson is the author of “An Eye for the Tropics: Tourism, Photography, and Framing the Caribbean Picturesque,” an examination of the colonial imaging of the Anglophone Caribbean in photographs and its effects on landscape, history, race and contemporary art.

Graduate students will present papers on their current research in areas ranging from Outsider Art to contemporary photographer Catherine Opie to Rembrandt. There will be a discussion following each presentation.

The annual event was created by faculty on both campuses to bring their students together to hear and be heard by eminent scholars working in the field of art history. Scholars listen to student papers and make suggestions on ways to improve their research and writing before giving a presentation of their own work.

This year, the symposium is hosted by the UA department of art and art history. It is sponsored by College of Arts and Sciences and the A&S Diversity Committee, University Libraries, African-American studies, department of American studies, New College, Visiting Artists and Lecturers Committee, and UA Graduate School.

The joint program for the M.A. in art history was created in 1987 to combine resources from UA and UAB and from the respective communities to provide a stronger program. The joint program offered the first graduate degree in art history in the state and includes a written thesis as a requirement for graduation.

For more information, contact Rachel Dobson at 205/348-1893.