Kevin Young (2011)

Kevin Young (2011)

For the O.B. Hardison Poetry Series 2011, Kevin Young read from his work in ton January 6 and The Phillips Collection.

Kevin Young

Kevin Young is the author of six poetry collections and editor of five others, including most recently The Art of Losing: Poems of Grief and Healing. His other collections include To Repel Ghosts, a "double album" based on the work of the late artist Jean-Michel Basquiat; Jelly Roll: A Blues, a finalist for both the National Book Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Award; and Dear Darkness, which was featured on National Public Radio and in The New Yorker as one of the best books of the year. Young was recently named the United States Artists James Baldwin Fellow and currently teaches creative writing at Emory University where he is curator of literary collections and the poetry library. In this reading at The Phillips Collection Young will be responding to the images from the TruthBeauty exhibition with previously written work, and will be introduced by The Phillips Collection curator Elsa Smithgall.

Review and Excerpt

—“In just ten years since his debut, Young has become a leading poet of his generation.”
                                                                                                                     Publisher’s Weekly

From "Ode to My Scars"

Soon I will be

simply

that skin darkening—

a flower burst

open, then

rouged, cut, lain

From Dear Darkness by Kevin Young © 2008 by Kevin Young, published by Alfred A Knopf. Used with permission of the author.

Visit Young's Official Website

The Philips Collection

TruthBeauty: Pictorialism and the Photograph as Art 1845-1945 In their effort to elevate photography to an art form equal to painting, the pictorialist photographers of the late 19th century produced some of the most spectacular photographs in the history of the medium. Comprising over 130 photographs, this exhibition traces pictorialism's development from the experiments of Hill and Adamson, and Julia Margaret Cameron; through its mastery by Alfred Stieglitz, Gertrude Käsebier, and Alvin Langdon Coburn; to its lasting legacy in early works by Edward Weston and Imogen Cunningham. Exhibition viewing is included with admission.