September 2015 - May 2016

The prevailing images that we see of Native Americans are often antiquated stereotypes and do not reflect the diversity, vibrancy, or modernity of Native peoples. "Native inspired" trends and images are everywhere: in popular culture, fashion, hollywood, and music, and conversations about cultural appropriation have become more mainstream. Yet Native voices are largely absent.

Photographer Dana Gluckstein will discuss her exhibition, DIGNITY: Tribes in Transition. The exhibition will be on display at the Watson Institute from September 10 to November 6, 2015.

DIGNITY: Tribes In Transition consists of 60 black-and-white portraits taken over three decades. According to the artist, the photographs aim to "capture the fleeting period of world history where traditional and contemporary cultures collide. The black and white portraits of Indigenous Peoples pay homage to these imperiled cultures, signaling our collective interdependence and fragility."

October 2014 - May 2015

Photographs of Brown community members sharing their experiences with racial microaggressions and microaffirmations. This exhibit is part of a broader movement to help make visible the reality and negative impact of racial microaggressions on building a just community.

Showtimes
Friday, March 14, 2014: 7:00 p.m.
Saturday, March 15, 2014:  2:00 p.m., 7:00 p.m.

One man. One mic. 40 characters. Two unbelieveable true stories of wrongful imprisonment. Told through hip hop, theater, spoken word, blues, comedy, calypso and classical music.

Written and performed by Bryonn Bain.

Presented by the Center for the Study of Race + Ethnicity in America (CSREA), in collaboration with Rites and Reason Theatre, the Swearer Center for Public Service, and the Creative Arts Council. 

March 2014 - May 2014

Shawn Michelle Smith studies photographic archives of race, calling attention to their blind spots and absences as well as their spectacles. Working with historical photographs from the nineteenth through the twenty-first centuries, she manipulates and transforms them in order to explore how we see and understand race in the United States.

Shawn Michelle Smith
Professor, Visual Artist & Scholar, School of the Art Institute of Chicago

Lecture, 4 p.m.
The Scene of the Crime: Taryn Simon's The Innocents
Winnick Chapel, Brown RISD Hillel , 80 Brown Street

Shawn Michelle Smith will discuss Taryn Simon's The Innocents, a project that documents 45 legal cases of mistaken identification, in which individuals were misrecognized as the perpetrators of violent crimes on the basis of mug shots and other visual aids.

Favianna Rodriguez will talk about her art practice creating powerful and unapologetic art pieces and will share snippets of Migration is Beautiful, the recent documentary highlighting her creative projects. Rodriguez is the Artistic Director of CultureStr/ke, a national network of professional and emerging artists, social change experts, and creative producers who seek to support the national and global arts movement around immigration. 

September 2013 - February 2014

From the criminalization of migrants through deportation to the undocumented and queer intersectionality, this collection of artworks explores different aspects of the immigrant experience. All of the artists in this collection  are part of CultureStr/ke, a national network of professional and emerging artists, social change experts, and creative producers who are advancing progressive change in immigration through cultural organizing. The organization's mission is to work towards a society that recognizes and embraces migration and migrant experiences.

From the criminalization of migrants through deportation to the undocumented and queer intersectionality, this collection of artworks explores different aspects of the immigrant experience.

All of the artists in this collection  are part of CultureStrike, a national network of professional and emerging artists, social change experts, and creative producers who are advancing progressive change in immigration through cultural organizing. The organization's mission is to work towards a society that recognizes and embraces migration and migrant experiences.