From Sojourner Truth to Dorothea Lange: Women, Photography, and Social Change in the ICP Collection

Long before "photo op" was a phrase, Sojourner Truth understood something radical: control your image, and you control your story. She sold portraits of herself to fund her abolitionist work, turning the camera into a weapon against slavery decades before most people thought to use it that way.

This class picks up that thread and follows it through a century of women who picked up cameras and refused to look away. Gerda Taro ran toward the front lines of the Spanish Civil War. Dorothea Lange put a face on the Depression that the government couldn't ignore. Berenice Abbott raced to document a Manhattan that was vanishing block by block. Consuelo Kanaga, Laura Gilpin, and Toni Frissell each pushed against the limits of who got to be seen, and who got to do the seeing.

We'll sit with their photographs and really look, not just admire them, but interrogate them. Who's in the frame and what is the historical significance behind it? What does a photograph do that words can't, when the subject is war, or migration, or the injustice of being unseen? Expect lively discussion around race, labor, gender, and power, grounded in the actual prints and contact sheets from the ICP Collection.

Course Level / Prerequisite: Open to all skill levels. Students ranging from beginner to experienced will be successful in classes that are Open to All Skill Levels.

Students are encouraged to review ICP's Classroom Disclaimer for current information regarding COVID-19 policies, classroom guidelines, and more. These policies are subject to change at anytime.

Courses are subject to minimum enrollment. Please register early, within five days of the start-date, to reduce the likelihood of course cancellation and to ensure you receive all course-related materials in time to prepare for class. Registration for this course will close one day prior to the start date of the course.

Fee Breakdown