"Vision & Justice" is a two-day creative convening that will consider the role of the arts in understanding the nexus of art, race, and justice, with a particular focus on the African-American experience. This event, which is open to the public, grows out of the award-winning Vision & Justice issue of the photography journal Aperture, guest edited by Sarah Lewis, and is organized around a guiding question: How has visual representation both limited and liberated our definition of American citizenship and belonging? Today, in our polarizing cultural climate, it is increasingly pictures that show us worlds unlike our own.

The program will emphasize short, stimulating presentations with a goal of outlining and catalyzing ideas for future work in art and justice around the country and the world. The sessions will focus on a wide range of related topics, from “Race, Justice, and the Environment” to “Cultural Narratives and Media.” The program incorporates a range of dynamic speakers and events, including a performance by Carrie Mae Weems, a film screening of work by Ava DuVernay and Bradford Young, a performance by Wynton Marsalis, and two exhibitions of works by Gordon Parks and Willie Cole, all culminating with a keynote by Bryan Stevenson on Friday evening and the conferral of the inaugural Gordon Parks Foundation Essay Prize at Harvard.