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Ackland F.A.M. Day: Growing Up
Activities for the whole family inspired by the Ackland’s current exhibition “Bill Bamberger: Boys Will Be Men.”
F.A.M. (Families at the Museum) Day is a free, walk-in program for all ages; drop in all afternoon!
Visit https://events.ackland.org/events/ to learn more about the Ackland’s upcoming public programming.
About the Exhibition:
Bill Bamberger: Boys Will Be Men presents introspective portraits of current and former male high school students from the Durham School of the Arts (DSA) by distinguished Durham-based photographer and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill alumnus Bill Bamberger (American, born 1956). Bamberger’s images explore the diversity of American masculinity exhibited by contemporary youth facing adulthood. They are accompanied by the students’ audio reflections on the expectations and experiences of coming of age.
Inspired by his own experiences navigating adolescence to manhood, Bamberger began the Boys Will Be Men series in 1984 while a teacher at Deerfield Academy, an all-male private boarding school in Deerfield, Massachusetts. He returned to the series in 2000 as an artist-in-residence at the public Flint Central High School in inner-city Flint, Michigan.
In 2022, the Ackland commissioned Bamberger to bring the project to an area high school, ultimately partnering with DSA, a local public magnet school for arts education. There, Bamberger worked with students on campus for two academic years to photograph and interview interested participants. Bill Bamberger: Boys Will Be Men presents a selection of forty-two photographs drawn from the images created with over 250 student participants. The photographs are presented alongside an audio program drawn from a series of long-form interviews with selected students.
This exhibition is made possible by support from the late Barbara C. Newborg, M.D. and Karen and Chuck Lovelace. Additional support has been provided by Mimi Hock and Amir and Anna Barzin.
Image credit: Bill Bamberger, American, born 1956, Jhesser, 2024, pigment inkjet print
