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Sarah Elizabeth Lewis

  • Academic and Thought Leader
  • Founder, Vision & Justice
  • Bestselling Author of 'The Rise: Creativity, the Gift of Failure, and the Search for Mastery'
  • John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Humanities and Associate Professor of African and African American Studies - Harvard University

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Public intellectual, scholar, and bestselling author Sarah Elizabeth Lewis focuses on the intersection of African American and Black Atlantic visual representation, racial justice, and representational democracy in the United States from the nineteenth century through the present. Dr. Lewis is the John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Humanities and Associate Professor of African and African American Studies at Harvard University. Her scholarship and research have been profiled by outlets including The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, and her presentations on race in America are sharp, knowledgeable, and insightful. 

One of the most eloquent speakers on the national conversation on race, Lewis believes the fight to end racial injustice cannot be merely legal or political. It has to involve images and it has to involve culture, because the fight is a struggle for visibility. A popular and in-demand speaker, her talks at the nexus of art, race, and justice leave audiences not only inspired, but rejuvenated and hopeful. A frequent speaker at universities and conferences, her mainstage TEDTalk, Embrace the Near Win, has received over 3M views. 

Her award-winning “Vision & Justice” issue of Aperture magazine received the 2017 Infinity Award for Critical Writing and Research from the International Center of Photography and launched Vision & Justice, based on the topic of her core curriculum course at Harvard University, filled with compelling inquiry and a sense of timeliness. Lewis says that the point of her course, Vision & Justice magazines, and the talk is to answer the following questions: How is representational democracy tied up with visual representation? How can our culture shift the narratives we have about who counts and who belongs in society?

Lewis is also the bestselling author of The Rise, a fascinating examination of how our most iconic creative endeavors — from innovation to the arts — are not achievements but conversions, corrections after failed attempts. Translated into six languages, the book is a successful lesson on creativity, innovation, and discovery.

 

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Past Hosts Include:
  • The USA Team
  • The Brearley School
  • Holmes PR Summit
  • LSAC
  • North Carolina Museum of Art
  • Kennedy Center
  • Ralph Lauren
  • Harley-Davidson Motor Company
  • Croda Inc.
  • A Major University
Rave Reviews About Sarah Elizabeth Lewis
“
Dr. Lewis energizes, inspires and captivates with such grace – how she leverages captivating visual examples to show how racial justice and democracy have intersected in the US leaves a lasting impression. We cannot thank you enough for the impact that you left on us at Harley-Davidson and look forward to working with you again soon!

”
More rave reviews

"Everyone is still reeling from Dr. Lewis’s inspirational talk. Honestly, her lecture felt in many ways like a mandate to our community and a resounding endorsement of the work we’re engaged in every day."

-Gibbes Museum of Art

"Please share my thanks with Dr. Lewis for an amazing lecture! We had a very large crowd and have received so much positive feedback about her lecture! Her message and graciousness were much appreciated."

-A Major University

"We truly had a really nice session with Dr. Lewis. I would say that all who attended (which at some point I noted over 180 attendees which was a great turnout by all accounts) really enjoyed the 1-hour session."

-Croda Inc.

"Thank you for your partnership in coordinating the Dr. Lewis talks for our employees.  Still hearing great feedback!"

-Ralph Lauren

"You have no idea how many people came up to me Saturday afternoon who were transformed by your presentation. Thank you so much for joining us and for having the courage to participate! You were vital to making sense of that whole topic. Thank you!"

-Kennedy Center

"Sarah's presence and her words were deeply inspiring and so relevant to the educators at our event. She made a tremendous impact. We were so pleased. And thank you for all your assistance in the process. You were so integral to the evening's success."

-North Carolina Museum of Art

"You were the perfect balance - great stories, so joyful, lots of insights that helped our audience. I hope you could sense that everyone is leaving thinking about things differently, and are, most importantly happy."

-LSAC

"As I opened the Global PR Summit feedback survey today, I realized that you and Ketchum deserve kudos directly from everyone who attended for bringing in Sarah Lewis. I had heard that she speaks even more eloquently that her book reads, but didn't believe it until seeing her in action. I'm re-reading The Rise this week, thanks to Ketchum's sponsorship."

-Holmes PR Summit

"I don't think it is possible to overstate the impact your presence had on our students and faculty. People were inspired, moved, and affirmed by you. Your work is incredible and your presence and warmth are equally compelling. Thank you for making the trip, for sharing with such genuine enthusiasm and for continuing to engage the students who follow up with you."

-The Brearley School

"Sarah's keynote was the perfect affirmation of support for the arts and so much more...the generosity and grace of her work set a tone that was present throughout the convening, and we heard so much gratitude from everyone who saw her presentation - including the hotel staff and AV technicians! It meant a lot to the artists in the room to have someone like Sarah there and her perspective on culture broadly, really nurtured the camaraderie built among the artist cohort."

-The USA Team
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Opening remarks and introducing Agnes Gund | Studio in a School's 45th Anniversary Gala - Get Sharable Link
Talks & Conversations with Sarah Elizabeth Lewis
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The Rise

The gift of failure is a riddle: it will always be both the void and the start of infinite possibility. Part investigation into a psychological mystery, part an argument about creativity and art, and part a soulful celebration of the determination and courage of the human spirit, SARAH ELIZABETH LEW ...

The gift of failure is a riddle: it will always be both the void and the start of infinite possibility. Part investigation into a psychological mystery, part an argument about creativity and art, and part a soulful celebration of the determination and courage of the human spirit, SARAH ELIZABETH LEWIS makes the case that many of the world’s greatest achievements have come from understanding the central importance of failure.

Vision & Justice

SARAH ELIZABETH LEWIS's Vision & Justice wrestles with the question of how the foundational right of representation in a democracy, the right to be recognized justly, has historically and is still urgently tied to the work of visual representation in the public realm.  ...

SARAH ELIZABETH LEWIS's Vision & Justice wrestles with the question of how the foundational right of representation in a democracy, the right to be recognized justly, has historically and is still urgently tied to the work of visual representation in the public realm. 

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Books by Sarah Elizabeth Lewis
Vision & Justice: Aperture 223

Vision & Justice: Aperture 223

Carrie Mae Weems: Kitchen Table Series: Limited Edition

Carrie Mae Weems: Kitchen Table Series: Limited Edition

The Rise: Creativity, the Gift of Failure, and the Search for Mastery

The Rise: Creativity, the Gift of Failure, and the Search for Mastery

Race, Love, and Labor: New Work from The Center for Photography at Woodstock's Artist-in-Residency Program

Race, Love, and Labor: New Work from The Center for Photography at Woodstock's Artist-in-Residency Program

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Press & Media
This is Sarah Lewis. You should know who she is. - Boston Globe
The Rise: Sarah Lewis (Podcast) - NPR's Wisdom from the Top with Guy Raz
Meet Sarah Lewis, The Harvard Professor Fighting For Justice Through The Power Of The Image - Forbes
Her grandfather was expelled from school for asking why his textbooks had no black people. Today she teaches at Harvard. - Washington Post
The Power of Seeing - Financial Times
Where Are the Photos of People Dying of Covid? - New York Times (Authored by Lewis)
The Racial Bias Built Into Photography - New York Times (Authored by Lewis)
For Black Suffragists, the Lens Was a Mighty Sword - New York Times (Authored by Lewis)
The Arena of Suspension: Carrie Mae Weems, Bryan Stevenson, and the “Ground” in the Stand Your Ground Law Era - Taylor and Francis Online (Authored by Lewis)
Sarah Lewis Brings Her Vision & Justice Project to Frieze New York - Document
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Ideas for the Meeting Planner
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Biography

Sarah Elizabeth Lewis is an art and cultural historian. She is an associate professor of history of art and architecture and African and African American studies at Harvard University and the founder of Vision & Justice. Lewis also serves on the Standing Committee on American Studies and Standing Committee on Women, Gender, and Sexuality at Harvard University. Her research focuses on the intersection of visual representation, racial justice, and democracy in the United States from the nineteenth century through the present. Her books and edited volumes include The Rise, translated into seven languages, Carrie Mae Weems, which won the 2021 Photography Network Book Prize, and “Vision & Justice” by Aperture magazine which received the 2017 Infinity Award for Critical Writing and Research from the International Center of Photography. In 2019, Lewis received the Freedom Scholar Award, presented by The Association for the Study of African American Life and History for her body of work and its “direct positive impact on the life of African-Americans.” She was named an Andrew Carnegie Fellow in 2022.

Her forthcoming publications include How Race Changed Sight in America (Harvard University Press, 2024), Vision & Justice (One World/Random House, Fall 2024), and Groundwork: Race and Aesthetics in the Era of Stand Your Ground Law (Spring 2024). The article on which Groundwork is based, published in Art Journal (Winter 2020), won the 2022 Arthur Danto/ASA Prize from the American Philosophical Association for “the best paper in the field of aesthetics, broadly understood.” A frequent speaker at universities and conferences, including TED and SXSWedu, she has had op-eds, commentary, and profiles of her work published in outlets including The New York Times, Aperture, The New York Review of Books, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and The Boston Globe.

Lewis’s research has received fellowship and grant support from the Ford Foundation, the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research at Harvard University, the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition, the Whiting Foundation, the Lambent Foundation, and the Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library.

Before joining the faculty at Harvard, she held curatorial positions at The Museum of Modern Art, New York and the Tate Modern, London. She also served as a Critic at Yale University School of Art. Lewis currently serves on the boards of Thames & Hudson Inc., Creative Time, Harvard Design Press, and Civil War History journal, and is a member of the Yale University Honorary Degrees Committee. Her past board service includes the Andy Warhol Foundation of the Visual Arts, The Brearley School, and The CUNY Graduate Center. She received her bachelor’s degree from Harvard University, an M. Phil from Oxford University, an M.A. from Courtauld Institute of Art, and her Ph.D. from Yale University. She lives in New York City and Cambridge, MA.

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