MOCP'S "IF EMMETT TILL LIVED" OPENS WITH A HISTORIC CONVENING
An exhibition that imagines a life, not a loss
Museum of Contemporary Photography at Columbia College Chicago opened "If Emmett Till Lived: Freedom on American Ground" with an emotionally moving convening. The exhibition imagines the life Emmett Till might have lived had he safely returned home to Chicago, rather than dwelling on the violence that ended it. None of the roughly 70 photographs depict Till or his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley; instead, they envision the ordinary milestones and joys denied him.
The opening conversation paired curator Sarah Elizabeth Lewis, founder of Vision & Justice, with the Reverend Wheeler Parker Jr., Till's cousin, best friend, and the last living witness to his kidnapping. Civil rights attorney Sherrilyn Ifill, formerly of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, moderated the dialogue. Collaborators on the project included Dr. Lonnie G. Bunch III, who just the day prior announced his retirement as Secretary of the Smithsonian, Chelsea Clinton, Ava DuVernay, Hank Willis Thomas, and Wynton Marsalis, each of whom selected an image reflecting their hopes for Till's unlived life.
The exhibition arrives fifty years into MoCP's history of engaging photography and justice. A companion volume, "If Emmett Till Lived: A Creative Monument," is available on Amazon.
Earlier this year, Blanc Gallery's "From Memory to Movement: Emmett at 85," curated by Raymond Thomas, marked the 85th anniversary of Till's birth.
Race relations in this country have too often required a shock to be seen — a boy in his casket, a knee on a neck. Photographers have forced us to look at ourselves unflinchingly. This exhibition asks us to imagine something different, something joyful. 'If' being the operative word.
EVENT DETAILS
"If Emmett Till Lived: Freedom on American Ground"
Museum of Contemporary Photography, Columbia College Chicago
On view now
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