Shannon Perich, a curator at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, will speak at UNMC today in conjunction with the exhibition “Searching for the Seventies: The Documerica Photography Project” at the Durham Museum.
Perich’s lecture, at noon in the Sorrell Center, Room 2014, will explore the intersections of subjects in the “Documerica” exhibition and incorporate artifacts from the National Museum of American History. Perich will examine how art, sports and entertainment embody, propel, affirm, and challenge individual and national identity.
In addition to her role as curator in the Smithsonian’s Photographic History Collection, Perich also is the project director for a new floor dedicated to the history of American culture opening in 2018. She has curated many exhibitions including “Laughing Matters” and “Country: Portraits of an American Sound” at the Annenberg Space for Photography in Los Angeles.
Her essay included in the Charles Mintz book “Lustron Stories” was published in 2016 by the Ohio State Press. Her books include “The Changing Face of Portrait Photography from Daguerreotype to Digital” and “The Kennedys,” Richard Avedon’s photographs of John F. Kennedy’s family just before his inauguration.
She is an occasional blogger for americanhistory.si.edu. Her collecting focus aspires to triangulate photography with an exploration of individual stories and lives, and a larger national narrative.
The event is offered through The Durham Museum and UNMC’s Time Travelers program, which provides free museum admission for medical center employees, students, and their immediate families with a valid identification badge, while also offering lectures, workshops and other events on the medical center campus.