AIPAD is thrilled to announce Deborah Willis as the recipient of the 2026 AIPAD Award!

Deborah Willis, PhD, is University Professor and Chair of the Department of Photography & Imaging at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, with affiliated appointments across NYU. She is also Director of NYU’s Center for Black Visual Culture. Her scholarship examines photography’s multifaceted histories, visual culture, and the representation of the Black body, women, and gender.

A MacArthur Fellow, Guggenheim Fellow, and member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Willis has pursued a dual career as an art photographer and one of the nation’s leading historians of African American photography and curator of African diasporic cultures.

Join us in celebrating Dr. Willis at the AIPAD Award Ceremony, Wednesday April 22 at The Photography Show 2026.