Denise Ward-Brown

Denise Ward-Brown is a Professor at the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts, Washington University in St. Louis. She specializes in documentary filmmaking that centers African American narratives to diversify historical records. Her work includes collaborations with scholars like Joanna Dee Das on projects like Josephine’s World, a jazz dance tribute to Josephine Baker. Notable works include Never Been a Time (2017), reframing the 1917 East St. Louis massacre, and Jim Crow to Barack Obama (2014), featuring intergenerational dialogues about racial history.

Post-Michael Brown’s death in Ferguson, she designed video courses such as Tale of Two Cities: Documenting Our Divides and Filming the Black Freedom Struggle, blending art-activism with education. Her research intersects film historiography, public memory, and social justice. Awards include the 2023 RAC Artist Support Grant and a residency at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris. She teaches in MFA/Studio Art programs and has exhibited work in venues like the Pulitzer Arts Foundation and Des Lee Gallery.