April 08, 2004
Photojournalist to visit campus April 14-15
CARBONDALE, Ill. -- A freewheeling photojournalist whose early images of bikers are said to have inspired the film "Easy Rider" will make two guest appearances on successive mid-April evenings at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.
It is " ... a seminal work and the second book ever to use a tape-recorded text and probably the first of the single subject, American subculture books to appear, soon to be followed by an avalanche we are still being buried under," according to Twin Palms, the publisher of a number of Lyon's photography books.Photographer Danny Lyon rode his Triumph alongside avid motorcyclists to capture the telling, black and white documentary images in his 1968 classic "The Bikeriders."
In addition to his black and white documentary photographs of U.S. prisons, the prolific Lyon also captured stark images of the Southern Civil Rights movement, Native American cultures and now makes films, too.
He'll talk "On Photography" at 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 14, in the Hiram H. Lesar Law Building Auditorium.
And he will screen and discuss his film "Willie" at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 15 in the same location.
Lyon is a guest of the SIUC cinema-photography program. The academic department is part of the College of Mass Communication and Media Arts. Funding for the events comes through the SIUC Student Fine Arts Activity Fee.Admission is free and both events are open to the public. Free parking will be available in lots south and west of the law school.
Expanding cultural outreach efforts is among the goals of Southern@150, the blueprint for the development of the University by the time it celebrates its 150th anniversary in 2019.