BLOCK STAFF PICK
This week: Photographic views of essential work and life-sustaining labor
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Each week a member of The Block's team offers picks that resonate with them at this moment. Today Corinne Granof, Academic Curator writes:
"Photographs in The Block’s collection, some by the great photographers of the Farm Security Administration from the 1930s and 1940s, capture the conditions and hard physical labor of farm workers. While their work is often invisible, the photographs serve to remind us of farm workers’ critical, but often unnoticed, contributions. In our current moment, farm workers are essential workers, and undocumented immigrants have been recognized as “critical to the food supply chain.” In photographs we see their deep connection to the land and the bounty of the earth. These photographs, among many in The Block collection, speak to the daily life of the farm workers and the gifts of their life-sustaining labor."
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1. W. Eugene Smith, "Spanish Village" Series ,1950, Gelatin silver print, 13 7/8 in x 11 in., Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University, Gift of Richard L. Sandor in honor of Julie and Penny Sandor, 1986.1.65
2. Torkel Korling. H.J. Heinz, Tomato Workers, Farm County South of Chicago, 1942, printed 1991, Gelatin silver print, 13 7/8 in x 11 in; Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University, gift in part by Steve Nordman, 2001.22c
3. John Collier, One of the enormous fields at which many migratory laborers are employed. Seabrook Farm. Bridgeton, New Jersey, June, 1942 Gelatin silver print, 3 15/16 in x 5 1/8 in. Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University, 1999.11.9
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THE BLOCK FROM HOME - NEW RELEASE
“They said you can’t make a film like this”: Lizzie Borden on revolution, race, and radical action in "Born in Flames"
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"The element of difficulty—the sense of a movie wrenched from recalcitrant circumstances and pressed into being with the urgency of rage and the force of ideas—lends a special bracing pleasure to Lizzie Borden’s 1983 film “Born in Flames” - Richard Brody, The New Yorker
As part of its #MuseumFromHome series, The Block is proud to release a fascinating conversation with filmmaker Lizzie Borden about her career and the creation of the iconic cult film Born in Flames.
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BLOCK STORIES
Checking in On…Madeline Hultquist, Undergraduate Research Assistant
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During Spring 2020 The Block Museum staff and students continue to connect online and advance the museum’s teaching and learning mission. This week, we check in on Madeline Hultquist, Undergraduate Research Assistant:
Recently, of course, working has changed a little bit as I am now working from home. I stay engaged by keeping in touch with the colleagues I work with, both by email and Zoom calls. Having these check-ins, especially video-conference style, is a really great way to stay connected and remember that while our offices may look different, we are all still working on our projects and looking to the future of the museum!
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BLOCK STORIES
Drawing inspiration from "Roof Piece" at Northwestern University
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Trisha Brown Dance Company's classic performance Roof Piece explores communication across distance, a fact foregrounded recently in the company's quarantine restaging Room/Roof Piece. In 2016 Roof Piece was performed at Northwestern University. The seven-member ensemble improvised movements across the campus's architecture, telegraphing these movements to each other across space. Dancers were stationed atop the Block Museum of Art, Norris Center, Josephine Louise Theater, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall, and the Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Center for the Arts.
As the Northwestern University community strives to connect across distance this quarter, The Block's presentation of this work takes on new meaning and offers inspiration for the act of connecting with each other in new ways.
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RESOURCES
COVID-19 Arts Community Resources
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A list of Arts Community Resources compiled by the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE) including the Chicago Artists Relief Fund.
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