Visual archivist activist: Dan Brouwer’s visual ethic of looking, seeing, witnessing

Abstract

In the days after Dan ’ s death, friends, scholars, co-authors, colleagues, and students past and present posted their memories on social media. Throughout these encomia, a picture developed, captured by Damien P fi ster in an anecdote describing a tenured Dan being the entirety of the audience attending an 8:00am conference panel composed of graduate students and junior scholars. Dan was “ so unbelievably attentive, scribbling away, engaged with every fi ber. ” 1 Attend. Attentive. Their etymology: ad tendere — to stretch toward. 2 Dan stretched toward each person with whom he interacted, with each artifact he studied, with each theory he engaged. He stretched toward us, and in the process made each of us stretch — our wings, our imaginations, our horizons.