Finally, there is the Ligon — a canvas that reminds one of nothing so much as a monolith tipped on its side, set grayly against a wall that barely abides it. That the 20-foot long painting is the terminus of Harlem: Found Ways, a recent presentation at the Ethelbert Cooper Gallery of African & African American Art at Harvard’s Hutchins Center, gives Glenn Ligon’s work a precarious claim to the guiding logic of the exhibition and, in more ways than one, the last word, as well.
With the exhibition Harlem: Found Ways, the Cooper Gallery presents artistic visions and engagements specific to Harlem, New York City, in the last decades. Each artwork employs a distinct set of inquiries and innovative strategies to explore the Harlem community’s visual heritage as it grapples with the challenges of gentrification.
Through July 15, Harvard’s Ethelbert Cooper Gallery of African and African American Art analyzes the history and changes in a historic neighborhood in “Harlem: Found Ways.” Anchored by two photo series by Dawoud Bey, created 40 years apart, the exhibit highlights the gentrification that’s changing Harlem’s identity as a famed black culture capital.
For photographer Dawoud Bey, activism and art have long been linked. Bey, whose portraits of Harlem form the centerpiece of the exhibit “Harlem: Found Ways” now at the Ethelbert Cooper Gallery of African and African American Art, first connected with his chosen visual medium through a protest.
The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America By Richard Rothstein Liveright; 1 edition (May 2, 2017) ISBN-10: 1631492853 ISBN-13: 978-1631492853
Harlem is Nowhere: A Journey to the Mecca of Black America By Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts Back Bay Books; Reprint edition (January 22, 2013) ISBN-10: 0316017248 ISBN-13: 978-0316017244
The Roots of Urban Renaissance: Gentrification and the Struggle Over Harlem By Brian D. Goldstein Harvard University Press (February 1, 2017) ISBN-10: 0674971507 ISBN-13: 978-0674971509
Harlem Crossroads: Black Writers and the Photograph in the Twentieth Century By Sara Blair Princeton University Press; 1st edition (September 16, 2007) ISBN-10: 0691130876 ISBN-13: 978-0691130873
Dawoud Bey - Harlem, U.S.A By Dawoud Bey, Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts, and Matthew S. Witkovsky Art Institute of Chicago; First Edition edition (June 26, 2012) ISBN-10: 0300181264 ISBN-13: 978-0300181265
The exhibition Harlem: Found Ways presented artistic visions and engagements specific to Harlem, New York City, in the last decades. Each artwork employed a distinct set of inquiries and innovative strategies to explore the Harlem community’s visual heritage as it grapples with the challenges of gentrification.