Join author and art historian Sara Elizabeth Lewis for a keynote presentation that will examine the MONUMENTS exhibition through the lens of cultural equity and social justice.
Sarah Elizabeth Lewis is an art and cultural historian and the John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Humanities and Associate Professor of African and African American Studies at Harvard University.
Lewis is the founder of Vision & Justice, a catalytic civic initiative that generates original research and programs revealing the foundational role of art and culture in advancing equity and justice in America. The initiative encompasses the Harvard course, the landmark Vision & Justice Convening, and the Vision & Justice Book Series, launched in partnership with Aperture.
Lewis’s award-winning books and edited volumes include The Unseen Truth: When Race Changed Sight in America; the acclaimed bestseller The Rise: Creativity, the Gift of Failure, and the Search for Mastery, translated into seven languages; an anthology on the work of Carrie Mae Weems; and the “Vision & Justice” special issue of Aperture magazine. Her forthcoming book, Vision & Justice, will be published by One World/Random House.
Her essays, commentary, and profiles of her work have appeared in outlets including The New York Times, The New York Review of Books, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The Boston Globe, and Aperture.
Lewis’s scholarship centers on a central question: What is the role of art in achieving justice in American society? She pioneered the Harvard course Vision and Justice: The Art of Race and American Citizenship—part of the university’s core curriculum—alongside other courses exploring the intersection of art, visual culture, and democracy. She also teaches a condensed version of this course at public libraries.
Lewis is the recipient of an Honorary Degree from Pratt Institute, where she served as commencement speaker, as well as the Infinity Award, the Andrew Carnegie Fellowship, a Cullman Fellowship (NYPL), the Freedom Scholar Award (ASALH), the Arthur Danto/ASA Prize (APA), and the Photography Network Book Prize.
Her research and projects have been supported by grants from the Ford Foundation, the Whiting Foundation, and the Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library. An in-demand public speaker, Lewis’s mainstage TED Talk has received more than three million views. She has addressed the UN General Assembly to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and delivered keynote addresses for organizations including the World Business Forum, the CIA, and the Urban League, among many others.
Lewis currently serves on the boards of Thames & Hudson Inc., Creative Time, and the journal Civil War History. Her past board service includes Harvard Design Press, the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, The Brearley School, The CUNY Graduate Center, and the Yale University Honorary Degrees Committee.
