In honor of President Kornfeld's April 13th inauguration and her significant contributions to the field of public health, this program series invites scholars actively investigating the past, present, and future of the dynamic relationship between public health and the arts to share their insights with the Kenyon community.

“In Transit”: Teaching Literature Through Kenyon’s Inside-Out Prison Education Program

Date: Friday, March 29
Time: 4:15 p.m.
Location: Buchwald-Wright Gallery

Join Kathleen Fernando, Assistant Professor of English, and Max Lazarus, Kenyon College alumnus, as they reflect on the literature course taught at Richland Correctional Institution. This collaboration is part of Kenyon’s curriculum and the prison education program.

Distinguished Lecture: Dr. Tanya Sheehan

Date: Monday, April 8
Time: 5:30 p.m.
Location: Community Foundation Theater, Gund Gallery

Dr. Sheehan will present her upcoming research on Harlem Renaissance artist Charles Alston and Jacob Lawrence (whose work appears in The Gund Collection), exploring their involvement with public health during pandemics. Throughout her career, Sheehan has navigated the intersection of American art history and critical medical humanities. Her inaugural book, "Doctored: The Medicine of Photography in Nineteenth-Century America" (Penn State Press, 2011), contends that medical models and metaphors played a vital role in bolstering the professional legitimacy of studio photographers and shaping the cultural identity of photographic portraiture during the Civil War and postbellum periods. "Doctored" concludes with a chapter on digital photography and contemporary makeover culture.

Currently, Sheehan's ongoing book project, for which she received a 2019–20 Boston Medical Library Fellowship in the History of Medicine and a 2023 Beinecke Visiting Senior Fellowship at CASVA, explores modernist art by African Americans. This project explores themes of Black agency through the lenses of medicine and public health, focusing on American art from the 1930s to 1950s by figures such as Charles Alston, Jacob Lawrence, and their circle. Additionally, Sheehan is collaborating with Suzanne Hudson (USC) on the first collection of critical essays examining modernism and art therapy in a transnational American context, forthcoming from Yale University Press.

Public Health and the Arts: An Interdisciplinary Dialogue

Date: Thursday, April 11
Time: 4:30 p.m.
Location: Buchwald-Wright Gallery

This interdisciplinary panel features faculty from The Ohio State University discussing their integration of public health studies with Classics, studio art, opera, and material culture. We will also reflect on The Gund’s Spring 2024 exhibitions in the context of this dialogue.

Panelists include Amy Ferketich, Professor, Interim Chair, Epidemiology, OSU; Jared Gardner, Joseph V. Denney Designated Professor of English and Director of Popular Culture Studies, OSU; Julia Hawkins, Associate Professor, Classics, OSU; and Jared Thorne, Assistant Professor, Department of Art.