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In conjunction with the exhibition The Art of Elizabeth Catlett,
the University of Delaware Library, Museums and Press will sponsor a
day-long symposium that explores Elizabeth Catlett’s art and activism in
its transnational contexts. Although Catlett may be best remembered for
her feminist representations of black life and the fight for racial
justice in the United States, she was also a Mexican citizen, having
permanently resettled in Mexico City in 1947. Her leftist politics
eventually led Catlett to be declared an “undesirable alien” by the
U.S., and she was barred from re-entering the United States until 1971.
Throughout and despite this exile, Catlett continued to create
politically charged work that transcended national borders. As she
famously described in the 1970 Ebony magazine article entitled
“My Art Speaks for Both My Peoples”: “I am inspired by black people and
Mexican people, my two peoples.”
This event is sponsored by the University of Delaware Library,
Museums & Press, with support from the Paul R. Jones Initiative,
University of Delaware College of Arts & Sciences
Organizers: Dr. Amanda Zehnder, Ashley Rye-Kopec, Anne Cross, and Dr. Tiffany E. Barber
Please email ud.catlettsymposium@gmail.com if you have questions about this event. Additional information can be found at: https://library.udel.edu/special/catlett-symposium/