WALLS is a special collection of 127 original works of art that go out on loan to Williams College students every semester. This summer, a group of 40 works in the collection by artists including Louise Nevelson, Francisco de Goya, Titus Kaphar, Margaret Bourke-White, Kiki Smith, Wifredo Lam, and Marc Chagall are on view for visitors to enjoy.

On August 2, hear from Alejandro Flores Monge and Alexa Walkovitz. 

Alejandro will focus on three works: Roberto Matta, Tranchetre from Hom’mere III (L’Ergonaute) (The Argonaut); Zhang Kechun, The Yellow River; and Franco Fontana, Baia delle Zagare. Illustrating the story of an epic poem, photographing the modern reality of an ancient birthplace, or capturing a new look of the same beach, his Spark Talk, titled “(UnSeeing) Again,” asks what we see, what we’re looking for, and how we find it. 

Alexa will focus on three works: Alison Saar, Washtub Blues, Bob Gomel, Malcolm X, and Toyin Odultola, If she doesn’t say anything then it never happened. With a focus on works that depict a black body, invoke and witness history, as well as give and take voice/narrative to and from a Black subject, Alexa will trace her own identity through these pieces that all have a different lens of blackness: one with identity and skin, one with loneliness and weathering, and one with ancestry and celebration. She will discuss how they work into her own experience having a voice that is always existing as black, a point of impossible subjectivity.

Zhang Kechun (Chinese, b. 1980), The Yellow River, 2011. Digital photograph, 33 5/8 x 44 1/8 in. Student Art Loan Program, Museum Purchase, Fulkerson Fund for Leadership in the Arts, SL.2013.22.2.

Bob Gomel (American, b. 1933), Malcolm X photographing Cassius Clay, Miami, 1964. Gelatin silver print, 17 x 22 in. Student Art Loan Program, Museum Purchase, Fulkerson Fund for Leadership in the Arts, SL.2013.9.3.