Khalik Allah (b. 1985) is a New York-based photographer and filmmaker who practices “Camera Ministry” with an eye as open as his heart. Described as “street opera,” his work has been praised for its beauty and visceral humanity. Following a series of short films that reflect relationships formed through portraiture, Allah advanced his artistry with his 2015 Field Niggas, a feature length documentary shot at night on the corner of Harlem’s 125^th St. and Lexington Avenue. The same corner would serve as the basis for his first book of photographs, Souls Against the Concrete (University of Texas Press, 2017).

Allah’s award-winning 2018 Black Mother, a film, the artist has called “an ecstatic expression of reverence and realities across Jamaica,” was seen in schools, museums and at festivals around the world before being released in both the United Kingdom and the United States by Dogwood and Grasshopper Film. Allah’s films are available on the Criterion Channel. He is currently at work on his second photo book from 125thand Lexington.

Rachel Kushner (b. 1968) is the bestselling author of the novels The Mars Room, The Flamethrowers, Telex from Cuba; a book of essays on art, politics and culture, The Hard Crowd; and a story collection, The Strange Case of Rachel K. Her new novel, Creation Lake, will be published by Scribner in September 2024. She has won the Prix Médicis and been a finalist for the Booker Prize, the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Folio Prize, the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, the James Tait Black Prize, and she was twice a finalist for the National Book Award in Fiction. Kushner has been a recipient of the National Book Foundation’s Literature for Justice Award and twice won California Book Awards. Her fiction has appeared in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, and Harper’s, where she is also a columnist. She is a Guggenheim Foundation Fellow and the recipient of the Harold D. Vursell Memorial Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Her books have been translated into twenty-seven languages. Kushner is on the advisory council of the Telluride Film Festival and writes frequently about art, movies, and literature. In 2023, Kushner and her ArtCenter lecture guest, Khalik Allah, were both jurors at the renowned Portuguese Film Festival, LEFFEST.

This event is free & open to the public. RSVP’s are not required.

Image credits: Rachel Kushner, photographed by Chloe Aftel, and Khalik Allah, photographed by Daniel Krieger.

Support for this series is generously provided by the following: Jack Shear, Brenda R. Potter, Brendan Dugan, Beth Rudin DeWoody, Sprüth Magers, BLUM, Alan Hergott, Hannah Hoffman, and David Kordansky

The Graduate Art Seminar is a forum for graduate students and members of the ArtCenter community to enter into dialog with internationally recognized artists, critics, and art historians. The Seminar is a core component of ArtCenter's Graduate Art program. The Seminar is also free and open to the public.

ArtCenter's Graduate Art program is based on intensive studio practice and rigorous academic coursework. The program is distinguished by its low faculty-to-student ratio that provides students with the attention and feedback they need to refine and achieve their artistic goals. Faculty and students are artists working in all genres—film, video, photography, painting, sculpture, performance and installation. A significant number of alumni have achieved national and international acclaim and often return to share their insights and expertise as visiting faculty and guest lecturers.