Please join Aperture and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston for a special conversation between artist Rahim Fortune and director of Documentary Arts Alan Govenar, moderated by curator of photography at the MFAH, Lisa Volpe. The three will discuss Kinship & Community: Selections from the Texas African American Photography Archive (Aperture and Documentary Arts, 2026), a book that celebrates the rich history of photography made by and for Black communities in Texas.
Kinship & Community presents an inspiring example of collective self-representation drawn from the Texas African American Photography Archive, and portrays the role of Black photographers in creating an indelible record of American life. With more than 150 images of everyday Black life—created by Black photographers for Black communities across Texas—this collection celebrates a proud but overlooked regional culture while testifying to the power of photography as a social tool. Completing the book is a vivid new photographic essay by Rahim Fortune that takes up the archive’s legacy and places it firmly in the present tense.
This event is included with museum admission. Seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis. This program is free and open to the public.
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Image: Rahim Fortune, Prairie View Homecoming Parade, Prairie View, Texas, 2024; from Kinship & Community: Selections from the Texas African American Photography Archive (Aperture, 2026). © 2026 Rahim Fortune
Rahim Fortune is a photographer from Austin, Texas, and the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma. His books include Hardtack (2024) and I can’t stand to see you cry (2021), which was nominated for the Paris Photo–Aperture Photobook of the Year and winner of the Rencontres d’Arles Louis Roederer Discovery Award. He was shortlisted for the 2025 Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize.
Alan Govenar is a writer, folklorist, poet, playwright, photographer, filmmaker, and director of Documentary Arts, a nonprofit organization he founded in 1985 to advance essential perspectives on historical issues and diverse cultures. He is a Guggenheim Fellow and the author of more than forty books, including Come Round Right (2025), Lightnin’ Hopkins: His Life and Blues (2010), Untold Glory: African Americans in Pursuit of Freedom, Opportunity, and Achievement (2007), Deep Ellum and Central Track (1998), and Stoney Knows How (1981).
Lisa Volpe is the Curator of Photography at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Previously, she was the Curator of the Wichita Art Museum, held various curatorial roles at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art (SBMA), and fellowships at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) and the Cleveland Museum of Art. Her work considers photography as a co-producer of culture, examines issues of globalization in the development of photographic styles, and analyzes the aesthetic changes generated by popular technology.
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