Clark Art Hosts Talk By Author

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WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — On Saturday, Nov. 16 at 3 pm, the Clark Art Institute hosts a lecture by Sarah Elizabeth Lewis, the John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Humanities and Associate Professor of African and African American Studies at Harvard University and bestselling author and public intellectual, writing for the New York Times and The New Yorker, among others. 
 
This free event takes place in the Manton Research Center auditorium.
 
According to a press release:
 
In this presentation, Lewis reads from her new book, "The Unseen Truth: When Race Changed Sight in America," which explores how the fight for independence in the Caucasus that coincided with the end of the U.S. Civil War revealed the instability of the entire regime of racial hierarchy and domination. Images of the Caucasus region and peoples captivated the American public but also showed that the place from which we derive "Caucasian" for whiteness was not white at all. In tracing these fault lines, The Unseen Truth illuminates how visual culture—from paintings to photographs to maps—was used to mask the fictions in the formation of race itself. Ultimately, a new regime of visual literacy came to obscure the specious grounds that legitimated racial hierarchy in America. Lewis discusses what this critical moment in the history of race and sight can tell us, and offers the tools to critically examine the silences in visual culture of all kinds.
 
Free. Accessible seats available; for information, call 413 458 0524. A book signing follows the talk. Copies of "Unseen Truth: When Race Changed Sight in America" will be available for purchase at the talk and in the Museum Store.

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Vice Chair Vote Highlights Fissure on Williamstown Select Board

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — A seemingly mundane decision about deciding on a board officer devolved into a critique of one member's service at Monday's Select Board meeting.
 
The recent departure of Andrew Hogeland left vacant the position of vice chair on the five-person board. On Monday, the board spent a second meeting discussing whether and how to fill that seat for the remainder of its 2024-25 term.
 
Ultimately, the board voted, 3-1-1, to install Stephanie Boyd in that position, a decision that came after a lengthy conversation and a 2-2-1 vote against assigning the role to a different member of the panel.
 
Chair Jane Patton nominated Jeffrey Johnson for vice chair after explaining her reasons not to support Boyd, who had expressed interest in serving.
 
Patton said members in leadership roles need to demonstrate they are "part of the team" and gave reasons why Boyd does not fit that bill.
 
Patton pointed to Boyd's statement at a June 5 meeting that she did not want to serve on the Diversity, Inclusion and Racial Equity Committee, instead choosing to focus on work in which she already is heavily engaged on the Carbon Dioxide Lowering (COOL) Committee.
 
"We've talked, Jeff [Johnson] and I, about how critical we think it is for a Select Board member to participate in other town committees," Patton said on Monday. "I know you participate with the COOL Committee, but, especially DIRE, you weren't interested in that."
 
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