Statement

A special opportunity exists to publish a book of photographs I have made in Harlem, the fabled uptown village in New York City. Harlem is a geographical location, but it also persists as an image of African American cultural achievement: ecstatic religion, bold political protest, soulful entertainment and rich traditions of artistic and intellectual activity. What is the relationship between Harlem’s physical reality and this image, so much a part of the village’s DNA? This question is a subconscious but significant impetus for these photographs.

The importance for making this work and publishing a book was impressed on me in the wake of New Orleans’s devastation. Katrina’s erasure of aspects of our cultural memory (from architectural landmarks to photographer’s negatives) highlights the fragility of the threads that constitute a vibrant community.  Although the transformation of Harlem, its gentrification and commercialization, is thankfully very different in  kind, it has been extensive enough to raise serious questions concerning the neighborhood’s future as a Mecca of black cultural expression and creativity.

In describing these photographs I am careful to say they are “made in Harlem” as opposed to being “about Harlem” in a conventional sense. They do not comprehensively portray the multifaceted communities and landmarks that constitute it; nor do they aim to be a commentary on its recent development. These influences are in the work, but fundamentally the photographs testify to my experience of Harlem, of my having walked its streets and witnessed time passing within its borders. If anything, the images evoke a mood tinged atmosphere made dynamic because of the complex interplay of memory, history and the present day. Harlem is a touchstone of my photographic practice as both a muse and a home of over ten years. As such, these images reflect the exterior life of a neighborhood and the interior artistic evolution of their maker.