Panel Discussion | Remembering Peter Hujar

Celebrate the opening of the exhibition Hujar:Contact with Gary Schneider, Vince Aletti, and Fran Lebowitz, who were longtime friends and subjects of the photographer Peter Hujar. In this panel discussion, they will contextualize Hujar’s life, times, and creative evolution, moderated by the exhibition’s curator, Joel Smith, Richard L. Menschel Curator and Department Head of Photography.

Vince Aletti is a writer, curator, and photography critic. He is the author of Peter Hujar: Lost Downtown (Steidl, 2016). His writings have appeared in The New Yorker, Artforum, Photograph, and many other publications. From 1987 to 2005 he was the art editor and photography critic for The Village Voice.

Fran Lebowitz is an author, actor, and cultural icon. She is the author of Metropolitan Life (1978) and Social Studies (1981). She is the subject of the HBO documentary film Public Speaking (2010) and the Netflix docu-series Pretend It’s a City (2021).

Gary Schneider is a master printer and the author of Peter Hujar Behind the Camera and in the Darkroom (2024). A close friend and occasional subject of Hujar, Schneider has been entrusted with making prints of his work since the artist’s death in 1987.

This panel takes place in Gilder Lehrman Hall on the Ground Floor. Doors to the Hall will open 30 minutes before the program begins. Attendees are encouraged to visit the exhibition Hujar:Contact from 5:15–6 PM.