Bill Gaskins

Visiting Associate Professor of Art

From a professional base in photography and arts writing, and an academic foundation in fine art and the history of photography, the work of Bill Gaskins explores questions about photography and the portrait in the twenty-first century. An entry point for the viewer is his fascination with the myths of photography, American culture, and representations of African American people. As an artist, teacher, scholar, and essayist, Gaskins’ artwork, teaching, and writing examine race and representation, photography and the portrait, the history of photography, the politics of visual culture, art and the academy, and the artist as citizen. His approach to photography as a producer and critical spectator has garnered attention through commissions, residencies, grants, public lectures, exhibition catalogs and books, as well as solo and group exhibitions at major venues such as the Crocker Museum of Art, The Brooklyn Museum of Art, Detroit Institute of Arts, and The Smithsonian Museum. He is the author of the breakthrough monograph Good & Bad Hair: Photographs by Bill Gaskins, and recently completed his first short film The Meaning of Hope, a reflection on the twenty-first century through the city of Detroit. Born in Philadelphia, Gaskins received his B.F.A. from the Tyler School of Art, a M.A. from The Ohio State University, and a M.F.A. from the Maryland Institute College of Art.

Contact: (607) 255-3558
gaskins@cornell.edu
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