Up in Harlem, Part 1: At the Studio Museum
Jul 20, 2010
Teens from Expanding the Walls lead a conversation about their work, July 2010. Photograph by Ja’nell Nequeva Ajani, Studio Museum in Harlem
On Tuesday July 20, YI journeyed across Central Park and up to 125th Street to visit the Studio Museum in Harlem. After spending the previous weeks at the Whitney and in SoHo, it was nice to explore a new neighborhood with the group! Upon reaching the Studio Museum, we were greeted by twelve teens from Expanding the Walls, who were eager to show us the exhibition they had been working on for the past eight months. The exhibition is called Hi-Res Expanding the Walls: Making Connections Between Photography, History and Community. It combines photographs made by students with photographs taken by the famous photographer James Van Der Zee. Each student was able to select his or her favorite Van Der Zee photograph and design a project that was inspired by an aspect of his photography. Every presentation we saw at the museum was fantastic! You could really tell that each and every student truly appreciated James Van Der Zee and worked hard to make clever and thoughtful observations about his photographs that were not visible to us at first glance.
Youth Insights and Expanding the Walls unite, concluding the first half of our day in Harlem, July 2010. Photograph by Ja’nell Nequeva Ajani, Studio Museum in Harlem
We saw projects that explored everything from New York City architecture to natural hair. Because of the variety, every presentation was engaging and interesting to view. After our tour was over, we had the opportunity to talk to the students in the Expanding the Walls program. It was so exciting to meet teens that were so friendly and so passionate about art that we didn’t want to leave! I think we all had a great day at the Studio Museum and look forward to returning soon!
By Katie