Past
Throughout the twentieth century, Harlem has been regarded as a beacon of African American history and culture. Sites such as the Apollo Theater, Abyssinian Baptist Church, and Malcolm X Corner at 125th Street and Seventh Avenue serve as popular postcard images that represent significant places and moments in this community. Today, Harlem continues to evolve as a center of historic and cultural activity. Changes are witnessed by its residents daily and experienced by tourists and visitors from all over the world. Harlem Postcards, an ongoing project, invites contemporary artists of diverse backgrounds to reflect on Harlem as a site of cultural activity, political vitality, visual stimuli, artistic contemplation and creative production. Representing intimate and dynamic perspectives of Harlem, the images reflect each artist’s oeuvre in an idiosyncratic snapshot taken in, of, or about Harlem. Each photograph has been reproduced as a limited-edition postcard available free to visitors.
This season, we are pleased to feature postcard images created by Cory Arcangel, Kambui Olujimi, Danny Simmons and Zoe Strauss.
This was my first attempt at “street photography,”
and I found my interests are the same both on and off the street (computers, internet, etc., etc.). I should get out more.
Born 1978, Buffalo, New York
Lives and works in Brooklyn, New York
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Born 1976, Brooklyn, New York
Lives and works in Brooklyn
(Bedford-Stuyvesant), New York
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Many of the traditional black neighborhoods in New York are being lost to gentrification. While Harlem remains the spiritual and historical capital of Afro-America, many of its residents are becoming casualties of economic and cultural aggression. No wonder Harlem got Da Blues . . .
Born 1953, Queens, New York
Lives and works in Brooklyn (Clinton Hill), New York
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I’m very honored to have been asked to participate in the 2007 Harlem Postcards, and was thrilled with the opportunity to get to know Harlem a little. In my work as a photographer
and installation artist, I’m interested in representing the beauty and struggle of everyday life and that’s how I approached making this photo.
Born 1970, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Lives and works in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania