Tuesday, February 11, 2025 11am to 4pm
This exhibition of photographs, artist books, and other media by Alan Govenar represent a 50-year retrospective. Through these images Govenar illuminates the deep texture of people and cultures that are often marginalized and overlooked. His photography embodies a highly original holistic approach, linked inextricably to his work as a writer, poet, novelist, playwright, folklorist, and filmmaker. By nature, Govenar is a collaborator, an artist committed to community engagement and proactive social change.
In 1973, a chance encounter with tattoo artist Stoney St. Clair led to a photographic series that helped to establish the foundation of Govenar’s inherently interdisciplinary approach. By the time he enrolled in a Ph.D. program at University of Texas at Dallas in 1980, he had completed his first book Stoney Knows How, published in a 40th anniversary edition in 2022, and directed his first film of the same name which screened at the Museum of Modern Art and was recognized as an Outstanding Film of the Year at the London Film Festival.
Govenar has authored more than 40 books, directed two dozen films, produced two 52-part radio series for national broadcast, created three off-Broadway musicals, and designed multimedia installations at PhotoLondon and the International Center of Photography.
Curated by Professor Marilyn Waligore
BIOGRAPHY: Alan Govenar is a writer, poet, novelist, playwright, photographer, folklorist, and filmmaker. He is director of Documentary Arts, a non-profit organization he founded in 1985 to advance essential perspectives on historical issues and diverse cultures. Govenar is a Guggenheim Fellow and the author of more than forty books, including Boccaccio in the Berkshires, Paradise in the Smallest Thing, Stoney Knows How: Life as a Sideshow Tattoo Artist, Lightnin’ Hopkins: His Life and Music, Untold Glory, Texas Blues: The Rise of a Contemporary Sound, Everyday Music, Texas in Paris, Osceola: Memories of a Sharecropper’s Daughter, A Pillow on the Ocean of Time, See That My Grave Is Kept Clean: The World and Music of Blind Lemon Jefferson (coauthored with Kip Lornell), and Deep Ellum and Central Track: Where Cultures Converged (coauthored with Jay Brakefield).
His photographs and artist books are in the collections of the Centre Georges Pompidou (Paris), Library of Congress (Washington, D.C.), San Francisco Museum of Art, Chicago Art Institute, Columbia University, New York Public Library, Museum of Modern Art (New York), and Museum of Fine Arts (Boston).
Govenar has produced and directed numerous films in association with NOVA, PBS and ARTE. His feature-length documentaries Down in Dallas Town: From JFK to K2, Looking for Home, Myth of a Colorblind France, Extraordinary Ordinary People, Tattoo Uprising, The Beat Hotel, Master Qi and the Monkey King, and You Don’t Need Feet to Dance are distributed by First Run Features.
Govenar’s off-Broadway musicals Blind Lemon Blues and Lonesome Blues (created with Akin Babatundé) and Texas in Paris have been staged at the York Theatre (NewYork), Forum Meyrin (Geneva), Maison des Cultures du Monde (Paris), Leidse Schowburg (Leiden), and other theatres in Europe and the United States.
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Tuesday, February 11, 2025 at 11:00am to 4:00pm
More dates through March 1, 2025
SP/N Gallery
3020 Stewart Dr, Richardson, TX 75080
free
Undergraduate Students, Faculty & Staff, Alumni, General Public, Prospective Students, Graduate Students, International Students
UTD strives to create inclusive and accessible events in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). If you require an accommodation to fully participate in this event, please contact the event coordinator (listed above) at least 10 business days prior to the event. If you have any additional questions, please email ADACoordinator@utdallas.edu and the AccessAbility Resource Center at accessability@utdallas.edu.