Legendary photojournalist and arts activist, Ben Tecumseh DeSoto speaks with CAMH Public Programs Coordinator, YET Torres about his unretirement, professional archive, and current work. DeSoto’s work is also included in CAMH’s exhibition Slowed and Throwed that will be reopening in January 2021.
Tune in to our IGTV or YouTube channel.
About the Series
In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, we’re doing everything we can to flatten the curve — but even though the museum is closed, and we’re working from home, we still talk to artists around the world every day. Here in Houston, in Italy, in China, in San Francisco … artists, like all of us, are weathering the coronavirus personally and professionally.
We will bring these conversations with artists — wherever they are — to wherever you are.
About the Artist
Ben Tecumseh DeSoto is a career photojournalist whose current work aims to contribute to the ending of our nation’s homelessness epidemic. With a rich history of editorial work including 25 years at the Houston Chronicle, DeSoto’s archive of professional work created from 1975 through 2016 is archived between the University of Houston Library Collections and the African American Library at the Gregory School, in historic Freedman’s Town. DeSoto is most known for his documentation of the local Houston music scenes — specifically, punk and hip-hop. As well as being an educator and mentor, DeSoto is also a documentary filmmaker. His most notable film The Quiet Storms of Reform, is a documentary film about a community working together to end homeless. Reporting on homelessness in Houston for four decades, through this work, DeSoto acts as watchdog and chronicler to feature Coronavirus’ impact on the Houston homeless by highlighting the perspective and the journey of those getting off the streets.