"Visualizing Time" with Stephen Wilkes

Stephen Wilkes is a photographer, filmmaker, and National Geographic Explorer acclaimed for his ground-breaking work that bridges documentary storytelling and fine art. Since founding his New York City studio in 1983, Wilkes has built a distinguished career spanning editorial, commercial, and fine art photography, earning recognition as one of America’s foremost visual artists.

"Visualizing Time," traces a personal journey through his five decades as a photographer. Throughout each period, a unifying thread endures: a profound fascination with the passage of time and the nature of memory. From documenting the ruins of Ellis Island to compressing an entire day into a single frame in Day to NightTM, Wilkes seeks to illuminate how we perceive and experience a place. Each body of work captures personal narratives while bearing witness to history, revealing the emotional essence of lived experience.

The event will be moderated by Kira Pollack, the former Creative Director of Vanity Fair and current Shorenstein Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School.

Kira Pollack is a leading creative director and photo editor known for pioneering new approaches to visual storytelling. Throughout her career, she has redefined how photography, emerging technology, and digital media intersect to expand the possibilities of visual journalism.

She is currently a 2025 Walter Shorenstein Media & Democracy Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School, exploring how AI-driven tools can deepen our understanding of visual history, support authorship and provide new solutions for image analysis and discovery. She recently concluded a fellowship at Stanford and USC’s Starling Lab, where she led a pilot project applying archival protocols to preserve photojournalistic collections. Her research culminated in her Washington Post essay, "Photos Are Disappearing, One Archive at a Time."

Previously, Pollack was Creative Director and Deputy Editor at Vanity Fair, where she oversaw more than 50 covers, collaborated with leading photographers and artists, and shaped the visual direction for The Great Fire, the special issue guest-edited by Ta-Nehisi Coates.

At TIME, where she spent nearly a decade, Pollack was Director of Photography and later Deputy Editor—one of the rare creative leaders to ascend to a top editorial position. Pollack led the visual direction of hundreds of TIME covers, defining the magazine’s photographic identity during a transformative era. She launched Red Border Films, TIME’s first in-house documentary film unit—later evolving into Time Studios—and created LightBox, an award-winning digital photography platform. Her work on Beyond 9/11, a multimedia documentary project featuring 46 short films and an HBO documentary, earned a News & Documentary Emmy Award.

Earlier in her career, Pollack was Deputy Photo Editor at The New York Times Magazine, where she helped produce major visual projects, including Obama’s People, a historic 60-page portrait portfolio published ahead of President Obama’s first inauguration.

Pollack’s work has been recognized with two Emmy Awards, a Lucie Award for Photo Editor of the Year, multiple Webby Awards, and five National Magazine Awards. She has served as a juror for World Press Photo, the Tribeca Film Festival, and the W. Eugene Smith Grant. Her TED Talk, "What Makes a Photograph Influential?", has been widely viewed. She is based in New York City.

This event occurs in person. RSVP does not guarantee entry. Our coat check is limited. Please do not bring any large bags or backpacks.