Thomas Allen Harris in Gallery

Current Exhibition

Workshop begins July 11, 2018

Exhibition opens August 30, 2018

Project with Thomas Allen Harris & Hunter College IMA MFA

Open Tuesday-Saturday

12-5PM

Artist and Filmmaker Thomas Allen Harris is in collaboration with students from the Hunter College IMA MFA program to transform Hunter East Harlem Gallery into an open-forum classroom. During the months of July and August 2018, the students will cull material directly from the surrounding neighborhood, and each student will perform a site-based investigation using historical visual materials like family albums, vintage photographs, archival film, and personal narratives to develop a project. The final outcome will be a collaborative exhibition debuting inside the gallery during the month of September, opening on August 30, 2018.

The workshop curriculum is based on Thomas Allen Harris’ practice which utilizes the family album as a community organizing tool, inviting audiences to share personal histories through close looking of a photograph. These archival materials illuminate stories of the neighborhood’s narratives giving shape to a collective memory and a people’s history. In tandem with the participating students, Allen Harris will conduct his own investigation of the Harlem-based First AME Church: Bethel creating a visual dialogue where cultural, political, and spiritual themes collide. The project disrupts notions of art, history, and religion as monolithic institutions by examining the relational and communal aspects of worship and community sites.