Photo Narratives: Remembering the 20th Century

A day of victory, a massive change in the
landscape of warfare, the assassination of a
President and a civil rights activist, a journey
into outer space – each of these events, and more,
marked the 20th century in ways which were
inconceivable at the time, yet have now become
integral threads in constructing a narrative of
world history.

Photo Narratives: Remembering the 20th Century
grapples with notions of memory and history by
drawing upon a selection of compelling images from
Ryerson’s Black Star Historical Black & White
Photography Collection.

Assembled over a period of eighty years at the
Black Star photo agency in New York City, the
photographs in this collection, more than a
quarter million, describe the personalities,
events and conflicts of the twentieth century,
from before World War I to Vietnam and beyond. The
Black Star holdings include the work of more than
3,000 different image-makers, many of them
acknowledged as individuals who helped define
picture journalism as it evolved throughout the
twentieth century.

The digitally reproduced images in this exhibition
represent major historical events that continue to
affect the human psyche. In exploring these iconic
moments that have inevitably become etched in our
collective memory, these pictures prompt the
viewer to ask the question: “Where was I when this
happened?”

Curated by Valérie Boileau-Matteau