Talk

MFA Photography, Video and Related Media presents a talk with Drew Sawyer, an art historian and curator who holds the title of the Sondra Gilman Curator of Photography at the Whitney Museum of American Art. Sawyer has previously held curatorial positions at the Brooklyn Museum, the Columbus Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. He received a 2020 Award for Excellence from the Association of Art Museum Curators.

Sawyer holds a Ph.D. in art history and archaeology from Columbia University. His doctoral dissertation is a critical exploration of the politics of labor and authorship in documentary practices from the early 1930s to the early 1970s, focusing on the work of Walker Evans and the question of “documentary style.” His writings and curatorial projects have focused on experimental documentary practices as well as the intersection of art and social movements. He is a regular contributor to scholarly volumes, exhibition catalogues, journals and magazines, including Aperture, Artforum, Document, Mousse and OSMOS.

Sawyer’s exhibitions accompanied by catalogues include “Art after Stonewall, 1969-1989” (2019); “I Too Sing America: The Harlem Renaissance at 100” (2018); “Red Horizon: Contemporary Art and Photography in the USSR and Russia, 1960-2010” (2017); “Golden State” (2017); “The Sun Placed in the Abyss” (2016) and “'Social Forces Visualized': Photography and Scientific Charity, 1900-1920” (2011). Other exhibitions include “John Edmonds: A Sidelong Glance” (2020); “Garry Winogrand: Color” (2019); “Liz Johnson Artur: Dusha” (2019); “Isaac Julien: Looking for Langston” (2018); “Family Pictures” (2018); “Kojo Kamau” (2017); “Allan Sekula: Aerospace Folktales and Other Stories” (2017); “Gathered: Snapshots from the Peter J. Cohen Collection and Works by Carmen Winant and Luke Stettner” (2016); and “Lucy Raven: Low Relief” (2016). He has also worked on exhibitions that explored the work of Bill Brandt, Horacio Coppola, Walker Evans, Robert Heinecken, Zoe Leonard, Grete Stern and more.

Sawyer has taught at Columbia University and Image Text Ithaca MFA program. At the Columbus Museum of Art, Sawyer helped conceive of and receive major funding for the Center for Art and Social Engagement.