As part of the 2022 Year of Willowbrook at the College of Staten Island, the Willowbrook Legacy Project will present “Photography, Advocacy, and Consent: Revisiting the Willowbrook Exposés,” a deeper look into the photography of Eric Aerts, now on display at the CSI Art Gallery. The event will take place virtually via Zoom on Thursday, October 13, at 3:00pm.
Chaired by Dr. Siona Wilson, Curator of the CSI Art Gallery, the panel will feature discussion from Professor of Sociology and Anthropology Dr. Hosu Kim, Associate Professor of Photography Chris Verene, and Associate Professor of History and Willowbrook Legacy Committee Co-Chair Dr. Catherine Lavender, centered around the photography of the Willowbrook State School taken by Eric Aerts, whose images were featured in the Staten Island Advance alongside a series of articles written by Jane Kurtin, exposing conditions at Willowbrook.
The exhibit of photos in the CSI Art Gallery is being presented in their entirety for the first time, alongside other documentary photographs depicting life and protest in the early 1970s New York. The panel will discuss the images and how they helped tell the Willowbrook story, touching on issues of privacy and consent.
The Zoom event is open to the public and offers CLUE credit to CSI students. The event takes place during CSI Club Hours, 3:00pm to 4:30pm. A registration link to the event is available now. The event will be later be posted to the Willowbrook YouTube Channel.
