Lecture | “Kinship & Community: Selections from the Texas African American Photography Archive”
Date & Time
Thu. May 28, 2026
6:30 PM-7:30 PM
This event has passed
Location Main Campus | Kinder Building
Parking at Kinder Garage
Drop off at Kinder Building
Drop off at Kinder Building
Email Your Questions [email protected]
Lecture | “Kinship & Community: Selections from the Texas African American Photography Archive”
Date & Time
Thu. May 28, 2026
6:30 PM-7:30 PM
This event has passed
Location Main Campus | Kinder Building
Parking at Kinder Garage
Drop off at Kinder Building
Drop off at Kinder Building
The MFAH and Aperture publishing present a conversation about the new book Kinship & Community: Selections from the Texas African American Photography Archive. Artist Rahim Fortune discusses his photographic essay with Alan Govenar, director of the nonprofit organization Documentary Arts. Lisa Volpe, curator of photography, moderates.
Kinship & Community offers an inspiring example of collective self-representation from the final decades of official segregation in the United States. With more than 150 images of everyday Black life—created by Black photographers for Black communities across Texas—this collection celebrates a proud but overlooked regional culture while testifying to the power of photography as a social tool. Fortune’s essay takes up the archive’s legacy and places it firmly in the present tense.
Tickets
- This event is included with Museum admission. Seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Plan Your Visit
- The lecture takes place in Lynn Wyatt Theater in the Kinder Building.
- Parking Information | Museum Hours | MFAH Campus Map
About the Speakers
Rahim Fortune is a photographer from Austin and the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma. His books include Hardtack and I can’t stand to see you cry, which was nominated for the Paris Photo–Aperture Photobook of the Year and won the Rencontres d’Arles Louis Roederer Discovery Award. He was shortlisted for the 2025 Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize.
Rahim Fortune is a photographer from Austin and the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma. His books include Hardtack and I can’t stand to see you cry, which was nominated for the Paris Photo–Aperture Photobook of the Year and won the Rencontres d’Arles Louis Roederer Discovery Award. He was shortlisted for the 2025 Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize.
Alan Govenar is a writer, folklorist, photographer, filmmaker, and director of Documentary Arts, a nonprofit organization he founded to advance essential perspectives on historical issues and diverse cultures. He is a Guggenheim Fellow and the author of more than 40 books, including Come Round Right, Lightnin’ Hopkins: His Life and Blues, and Untold Glory: African Americans in Pursuit of Freedom, Opportunity, and Achievement.
Lisa Volpe is the curator of photography at the MFAH. Her exhibition catalogue Georgia O’Keeffe, Photographer was a finalist for the Association of American Publishers Prose Awards, and her catalogue Gordon Parks: Stokely Carmichael and Black Power was named a “must read” by Esquire and New York magazines.
Email Your Questions [email protected]
Learning and Interpretation programs at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, receive generous support from H-E-B; Sempra Foundation; the Brown Foundation, Inc.; the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo; the Joe Barnhart Foundation; the Cockrell Family Fund; the CFP Foundation; the Claire & Theodore Morse Foundation; the Junior League of Houston, Inc.; and additional generous donors.
Endowment funds are provided by the Louise Jarrett Moran Bequest; Caroline Wiess Law; Windgate Foundation; the William Randolph Hearst Foundation; Cyvia and Melvyn Wolff; the Fondren Foundation; BMC Software, Inc.; the Wallace Foundation; the Neal Myers and Ken Black Children’s Art Fund; the Eleanor and Frank Freed Foundation; Medha and Shashank Karve; Virginia and Ira Jackson; Jesse H. Jones II; the CFP Foundation; the Favrot Fund; gifts in memory of John Wynne; Neiman Marcus Youth Arts Education; gifts in memory of Peter Lotz; and gifts in honor of Beth Schneider.
On Thursdays, admission to the MFAH Permanent Collections is free, courtesy of Shell USA, Inc.