MILWAUKEE — The Haggerty Museum of Art on Marquette's campus has an exhibit called Visual Legacies: Photographs by Ellie Lee Weems.
Weems was a Black photographer who captured portraits and other photos of Black people in Jacksonville, Florida, from the 1920s to the 1980s.
When Saundra Murray Nettles and her daughter Kali Murray walk through the exhibit, they see a piece of their history. Weems was their great-uncle.
"Through his photographs, he was looking at narratives of resilience," Murray Nettles told TMJ4.
Weems' photographs captured moments of people in their everyday lives. Many of the photographs were positive, which contrasts with many photos seen from the Jim Crow South.
"He captured people's resilience," Murray Nettles said. "People's ability to go into a studio and smile even though they might have had a racist encounter or a Jim Crow encounter a few minutes before."
Watch: Haggerty Museum exhibit highlights Black photographer Ellie Lee Weems
According to Kali Murray, most of the Weems collection is held by the Atlanta Public Library, which loaned out some items for Haggerty's exhibit.
Murray, who teaches intellectual property law at Marquette, says the family has been trying to gain more control of the collection.
"I think copyright law is a way to recover and to honor the families that produce art," Murray said.
To Murray, her work to protect Black intellectual property is valuable.
"It's a source of wealth," Murray says about IP. "When we act as if the family doesn't exist, that means Black people can't control how their images are used."
The exhibit resonates with Sydney Alexandria Hardey, a Marquette Law student.
"What draws me to the exhibit is its absolute beauty," Hardy said.
Hardy, who focuses her studies on intellectual property, says in the digital age, everybody should care about their IP.
"Your image is yours, it's yours to protect, and it's yours to use however you want to," Hardy said. "That's intellectual property."
The exhibit runs through May 24 this year.
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