The Gund Gallery at Kenyon College is pleased to announce the release of the first episode in the new docuseries Can't Look Away: Photographs of the Civil Rights Struggle.

Can’t Look Away seeks to reveal connections between the Black Lives Matter movements and the Civil Rights struggles of the 1950s and 60s through conversations centered on select photographs depicting the Civil Rights Era.

Developed as a way for the Gallery to inspire our community to critically engage with some of the most pressing issues we face today, each episode will feature experts from across Kenyon College discussing photographs made available for the program by Gund Gallery supporters David Horvitz ‘74 and Francie Bishop Good.

These images demand our attention and compel us to think deeply about the legacy of racism in the United States, leading us to explore how history can inform the ways we respond collectively to the legacy of unresolved racial strife that continues in our time.

The series begins with a wide-ranging dialog on Burt Glinn’s Little Rock, Arkansas, 1957 that touches on subjects from the powers of the US Supreme Court, to the racial politics of the Cold War, and the influence of press coverage on the success of protest movements.

Discussants in the series include Glenn McNair, Professor of History; Francis Gourrier, Assistant Professor of American Studies and History; Austin Porter, Assistant Professor of Art History and American Studies; and Jodi Kovach, Curator of Academic Programs at the Gund Gallery.

“We had originally planned to release the first episode of this series at the beginning of February, in celebration of Black History Month,” says J. Christopher Fahlman ‘72, director of operations and visitor experience at the Gund Gallery and project manager for the series.“ COVID-19 concerns presented a number of challenges to our production, but with all the participants’ cooperation, we were able to responsibly and safely realize this project with only a modest delay.”

“It was important to all those working on Can’t Look Away that we make a contribution honoring African Americans and people of color who enrich our country in innumerable ways and are so often met with violent racism in their daily lives,” adds Caroline Culbert, director of communication and engagement at the Gund Gallery. “By fully leveraging our expertise exploring the discursive nature of contemporary art, and making the resulting works available online for free, we hope to further the conversation around racial justice in our community and encourage others to engage in the tough conversations that drive structural change.”

We would like to extend a special thanks to our discussants, all our campus collaborators at Kenyon College, and our partners at Kokosing River Productions.

Funding for this video series was generously provided by David Horvitz ‘72 and Francie Bishop Good.