Panel Discussion: “Manuel Álvarez Bravo: Collaborations”

Event Details

Join Aurelia Álvarez Urbajtel (Director of the Manuel Álvarez Bravo Foundation in Mexico City), Aliza Nisenbaum (2024-25 Toni and Tim Urban International Artist in Residence), and Mia Laufer (exhibition curator) for a conversation about the renowned photographer Manuel Álvarez Bravo. Accompanying the exhibition “Manuel Álvarez Bravo: Collaborations,” on view in the Anna K. Meredith Gallery (October 25, 2025 – January 18, 2026), the panel will discuss the photographer’s life and legacy, challenges of revisiting the work of legendary artists, Bravo’s continued significance today, and the vital role of collaboration in his and his partners’ creative processes.

About the panelists:

Since 2005, Aurelia Álvarez Urbajtel has coordinated the Manuel Álvarez Bravo Association and starting from 2011, the Manuel Álvarez Bravo Archive, both dedicated to preserving, researching, and promoting the photographer’s legacy. She has directed the Manuel Álvarez Bravo Archive-House in Mexico City since its opening in March 2023.

Artist Aliza Nisenbaum makes portrait paintings that are manifestations of exchanges with her subjects over time. Through ongoing engagements with immigrant, diasporic, and international communities worldwide, her work takes up the focused attention of observational painting, deepening this space through site-specific research, interviews, and personal connection.

Dr. Mia Laufer was formerly an Associate Curator at the Des Moines Art Center and is currently the Irene Leache Curator of European Art at the Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, Virginia. Her curatorial practice centers around collaboration and inclusion, working with co-curators, advisory committees, and community partners to ensure that museums reflect the audiences they serve.

Free; registration required.

Manuel Álvarez Bravo (Mexican, 1902 – 2002)
“Frida Kahlo con globo (Frida seated with globe)” [detail], ca. 1938
Colección Archivo Manuel Álvarez Bravo