This book honors the life, death and legacy of Emmett Till through a kaleidoscope of 20th- and 21st-century photography. Both a reckoning with the past and a probing investigation into the current state of American life, If Emmett Till Lived presents a fictionalized narrative of the life Emmett Till might have lived had he returned home in 1955, rather than being murdered at the age of 14 while visiting family in Mississippi, a victim of the racial terror of Jim Crow rule. Curated by writer and scholar Sarah Lewis, the more than 100 photographs from dozens of artists are drawn from the permanent collection of the Museum of Contemporary Photography. Her selection of works recalls small but not insignificant moments in Till’s childhood as well as larger themes from his life’s unfulfilled promise. Collectively, Lewis’ selections present a poetic and profound photographic account of quotidian moments from a childhood and adulthood unrealized. These photographs speak to the absence of images of Till’s life beyond the age of 14. In filling that void, the exhibition more broadly addresses the lasting impact of racialized violence in the United States across generations, ultimately offering a framework for considering how freedom is secured on American ground.
Photographers include: Dawoud Bey, Keith Carter, Teju Cole, Bruce Davidson, An-My Lê, Danny Lyon, Sally Mann, Diana Matar, Gordon Parks, Walter Rosenblum, Carrie Mae Weems.independent spirit of the ’90s and offer an insider's view of the decade before smartphones and digital recording software. Through an extensive curatorial selection of more than 200 photographs, her memories create a moving self-portrait of a young artist living through the ’90s alternative music scene, and a time capsule for Generation X.
Melissa Auf der Maur’s (born 1972) indie band Tinker had just opened for Smashing Pumpkins when Billy Corgan recommended her to Courtney Love as the new bassist for Hole’s grief-marked Live Through This world tour, beginning soon after the deaths of both Kurt Cobain and Kristen Pfaff. She played on the group's Grammy-nominated album Celebrity Skin. After leaving Hole, Auf der Maur joined Smashing Pumpkins as the bassist for their farewell tour from 1999 to 2000. Following the release of a few solo albums, she moved to Hudson, NY, became a mother and cofounded the multidisciplinary art center Basilica Hudson.