Perspectives

Photojournalist and professor Eli Reed gives an informal talk about The Open Road, in the exhibition’s galleries.

About Eli Reed

Eli Reed was born in the US and studied pictorial illustration at the Newark School of Fine and Industrial Arts, graduating in 1969. In 1982 he was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University. At Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, he studied political science, urban affairs, and the prospects for peace in Central America.

Reed began photographing as a freelancer in 1970. His work from El Salvador, Guatemala, and other Central American countries attracted the attention of Magnum in 1982. He was nominated to the agency the following summer and became a full member in 1988.

In the same year, Reed photographed the effects of poverty on America’s children for a film documentary called Poorest in the Land of Plenty, narrated by Maya Angelou. He went on to work as a stills and specials photographer for major motion pictures. His video documentary Getting Out was shown at the New York Film Festival in 1993 and honored by the 1996 Black Film-makers Hall of Fame International Film and Video Competition in the documentary category.

Reed’s special reports include a long-term study on Beirut (1983-87), which became his first, highly acclaimed book Beirut, City of Regrets, the ousting of Baby Doc Duvalier in Haiti (1986), US military action in Panama (1989), the Walled City in Hong Kong and, perhaps most notably, his documentation of African-American experience over more than twenty years. Spanning the 1970s through the end of the 1990s, his book Black in America includes images from the Crown Heights riots and the Million Man March.

Reed has lectured and taught at the International Center of Photography, Columbia University, New York University, and Harvard University. He currently works as Clinical Professor of Photojournalism at the University of Texas in Austin.

Free admission is made possible every Thursday by the Moody Foundation.

The Blanton is located at the intersection of Congress Avenue and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

Paid parking is available in the Brazos Garage on Brazos Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. Parking is $4; bring your ticket with you to the museum.

A UT construction project will fence off some paths to the Blanton from 8.16.17 – 1.31.18. 
The drop-off area and disabled parking spaces on Jester Circle (between Jester Dorm and the museum) will be inaccessible.

Visitors will still be able to access the museum via the sidewalk on MLK Jr. Blvd, and disabled parking is still available in the Brazos Garage.

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We apologize for any inconvenience.