Visionary filmmaker, writer, and cultural historian Julie Dash has spent her career reshaping how Black stories are told on screen. Best known for her groundbreaking film Daughters of the Dust — the first feature film by an African American woman to receive a wide theatrical release — Dash has become one of the most influential creative voices in American cinema.
Her work explores themes of racial justice, migration, diasporic identity, and the lives of Black women, earning recognition from the Library of Congress, which has preserved both Daughters of the Dust and her acclaimed short film Illusions in the National Film Registry.
Her most recent museum installations include the Standing at The Scratch Line at the Philadelphia Museum of African American History and Shine a Light, a large-scale video mapping projection commissioned for the And Still We Rise permanent exhibition at The Wright.
The Wright Conversations is a curated series of lectures and conversations moderated by The Wright Museum’s CEO and President Neil A. Barclay, followed by questions from our audiences. The Conversations feature presentations by leading thought leaders in popular culture, foodways, environmental justice, and the continuing effects of racial disparities in contemporary cultures around the globe. As part of The Wright’s educational initiatives, the series brings some of the nation’s most critically acclaimed artists and culture workers to southeast Michigan.
Buy tickets for The Wright Conversations: Julie Dash