CultureTalk: Barry Lopez and Deke Weaver

National Book Award winner Barry Lopez is acclaimed for his passionate essays on ethics and ecology, but what defines his voice is a poetic narrative on humanity itself. Lopez paints a broad picture of our acknowledgment of, reciprocity with, and frequent dissociation from the land, water, and animals that sustain us. By blending notions of spirituality, intimacy, imagination, and art, Lopez has created a unique voice for exploring our next steps in environmental interdependence. In particular, his insights into the human/animal connection have informed the work of University of Illinois Art + Design professor Deke Weaver. Noted for The Unreliable Bestiary, his catalogue of captivating site-specific works which includes Elephant, Wolf, and Bear, Weaver has been inspired by Lopez's ability to balance myth and assumptions with biological facts to "bring these beautiful, disparate details into focus, at the precise point where they come into contact with each other."

This talk will be moderated by Jane Desmond, co-founder and director of the International Forum for US Studies and professor of Anthropology and Gender and Women's Studies at Illinois.

CultureTalk is a collaborative initiative of the Office of the Dean of the College of Fine + Applied Arts, the Center for Advanced Study, the Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities, and Krannert Center for the Performing Arts.

This performance will last approximately 90 minutes with no intermission.