LA-based photographer Naomi Harris will lead this exciting workshop, co-presented by G44 and Circuit Gallery, in an attempt to unravel the intricacies and complexities of working photographically with subjects from diverse communities.
Beginning with her own experience working with a range of communities from seniors to swingers, she will discuss the limitations and advantages inherent in documentary photographic traditions, the relationship between ethics and the lens, and what is needed to work intimately with subjects outside of your own community. Harris will then lead an informal critique session of participants' work.
Her work can be seen here:
http://naomiharris.com/
Participants are encouraged to bring 5-7 small photographs (no larger than 11"x17") from a complete or in-progress series to the workshop. Artists will participate in a sharing circle intended to stimulate constructive criticism and creative feedback from Naomi Harris and the other participants.
Canadian born NAOMI HARRIS is primarily a portrait photographer who seeks out interesting cultural trends to document through her subjects. Personal projects include HADDON HALL in which she documented the lives of the last remaining elderly residents at a hotel in South Beach. For this work she received the 2001 International Prize for Young Photojournalism from Agfa/ Das Bildforum, honorable mention for the Yann Geffroy Award, and was a W. Eugene Smith Grant in Humanistic Photography finalist.
For her next project AMERICA SWINGS, she documented the phenomenon of swinging over the course of 5 years (from 2003 to 2008) all over the United States. This project was realized in her first monograph “America Swings” released by TASCHEN in 2008 as a limited collectors edition and again in 2010 as a trade edition. Artist Richard Prince interviewed Ms. Harris for the book and it was edited by Dian Hanson.
She recently completed EUSA which is a reaction to the homogenization of European and American cultures through globalization and is releasing a book by the same title in late 2017. It was shortlisted for the Luma Rencontres Dummy Book Award in Arles, France.
Other accolades include being awarded a New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) Fellowship in Photography in 2013, a Long-Term Career Advancement Grant from the Canada Council in 2012 and participating in the World Press Photo Joop Swart Masterclass in 2004.
In June 2012 after living in New York for 15 years she decided to leave and live in her car traveling around America with her dog Maggie in preparation of becoming a US citizen, which she did in August 2013. After a couple of years of rubber tramping she has decided to plant some roots and call Los Angeles home. For now.
In 2017, Harris will be going on another road trip coinciding with President-Elect Trump’s First 100 Days. Stay tuned!
