Seeing Sounds Book Launch

​Join BMRC Visual Arts Researcher Rashieda Witter for the launch of Seeing Sounds: The Sonic and Visual Art of the Dungill Sisters, a new publication celebrating the remarkable creative legacy of Chicago’s Dungill sisters.

​The culmination of more than a year of deep archival research, Seeing Sounds is the first publication to document the sisters’ interconnected musical and visual art histories, bringing together paintings, photographs, archival materials, and family histories to illuminate a story that has long remained underrecognized.

​The evening will also mark Rashieda’s final presentation with the BMRC, offering reflections on two years of research, curatorial practice, and the process of bringing Seeing Sounds to life.

​Free copies of Seeing Sounds will be available for all attendees. Join us for an evening of reflection, celebration, and community around the histories that made this project possible.

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​ABOUT THE BOOK

​Seeing Sounds: The Sonic and Visual Art of the Dungill Sisters is the first publication to document the remarkable musical and visual art history of Elaine, Melody, Gloria, and Harriette Dungill. Raised on Chicago’s South Side, the sisters were accomplished musicians who performed as members of the Dungill Family Orchestra, a popular family ensemble active throughout the 1930s–1990s. Beyond their musical talents, the sisters were prolific visual artists whose paintings reveal a fascinating relationship between sound, color, and memory. Drawing on more than a year of archival research, art historian and curator Rashieda Witter brings their extraordinary creative legacies into focus, celebrating the Dungill sisters as multidisciplinary artists whose lives and work expand our understanding of Black women's contributions to twentieth-century art and culture.