Deborah Willis is an acclaimed artist, curator, and historian of photography whose pioneering research has focused on the representation of gender and the black body. The recipient of MacArthur and Guggenheim Fellowships, Willis is the author of Posing Beauty: African American Images from the 1890s to the Present; Reflections in Black: A History of Black Photographers 1840 to the Present; Black: A Celebration of Culture; and many others. Her books Envisioning Emancipation: Black Americans and the End of Slavery (with Barbara Krauthamer) and Michelle Obama: The First Lady in Photographs both received NAACP Image Awards.
