A Journey, In Photographs

Photographer Lyle Ashton Harris discussed his exploration of self through art in a lecture at the Sackler Museum yesterday.

Harris, an artist and professor at NYU, opened his exhibition “Sketches from the Shore” at the Rudenstein Gallery in the W.E.B. Du Bois Center.

The collection, his most recent body of work, consists of 13 photographs and a collage taken in Ghana over the past few years. His subject is the complexity of modern African culture, which he expresses through his images, as in one photograph of people in tradition dress talking on cell phones.

Harris, 43, was born in New York but spent part of his childhood in Tanzania. He currently splits his time between New York and Ghana. He is inspired by different American and African cities in which he has lived in.

Harris discussed the progression of his art over what he called a “remarkable 20-year journey.”

During this journey, his art was at times an interpretation of his life as a gay African-American man, Harris said.

“What does it mean somehow to... use art as a way to negotiate, to restructure the structure,” Harris said.

The lecture featured a slide show of Harris’ past works, including early self-portraits, collages, and numerous photographs commissioned by the New York Times.

He also played a clip of a performance piece about sexual abuse of gay males in prison.

The exhibit and lecture were well received by those present.

“I think his idea of cosmopolitanism is really important, being a citizen of different urbanities and different modernities. I think it is very layered,” visiting photography professor Catherine B. Lord said of Harris’ work.

The exhibit is a collaboration between Harvard Art Museum and the Du Bois Institute of African and African American Studies.

According to Janet M. Sartor, a program coordinator at the Harvard Art Museum, the collaboration between different parts of the University allows for greater participation among the Harvard community.

“The museum is moving forward with making an effort to bring in many, many more students, and we’re trying to offer programs that have a broad approach,” Sartor said.

Martabel Wasserman ’10 said she enjoyed the collaboration.

“I think it’s really great that they incorporated a lot of different departments to address different issues on race and gender and sexuality,” Wasserman said.

The show will run until January 15.