In remote Lands: A conversation with Alex Harris — Part II
A conversation with Alex Harris — Part 2/a
The response to Part I of our conversation with Alex Harris, “Life And Photography Amongst The Inuit And Yupik, Innovators in Remote Lands”, has been overwhelming and sustained. As we expand our exhibit of Alex’s photos taken between 1973 and 1978, we are excited to share the second part of his fascinating insights on photography and the hunting-gathering life he witnessed and participated in, now disappearing fifty years later.
Alex was 22 when he first traveled to Inuit and Yupik lands, commissioned to take photographs to accompany the writings of distinguished child psychiatrist Dr. Robert Coles who was studying life in some of the oldest communities on the North American continent.
What began for Alex as a brief foray, became an extended stay as a guest and a friend of peoples living in these remote villages.
“I don’t think I’ve been in a place before that, or since, where physical play and exploration was such a big part of young people’s life. There is a joy really evident.”
A conversation with Alex Harris — Part 2/b
With the perspective of a half century, and reviewing negatives he had not revisited in years, Alex is able to reflect anew on his experience, his growth as an artist, and the friendship which developed between himself and the Inuit, the Yupik and the lands they call home.
Alex Harris’ work has been exhibited in numerous museums and gallery shows, and is in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the J. Paul Getty Museum and many others.
The negative for one of the most iconic photographs in our continuing exhibit was misplaced, and only recently rediscovered by Alex. We are pleased to be able to show that photograph, a print of which was acquired by the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1979, along with other additional photos.
“There’s a quality of him looking back at me. Cartier-Bresson would have called it ‘the decisive moment’. Eudora Welty would have called it ‘a moment in which people reveal themselves’. My colleague Robert Coles would have talked about ‘a moment of intense self-recognition’.”
A conversation with Alex Harris — Part 2/c