The saying goes, the camera doesn't lie. But cameras don't snap images on their own. They're operated by people, and those people bring their own feelings, backgrounds, philosophies and biases to the process of documenting life. The result, says Thomas Allen Harris, tells us about the photographer, the subject and ultimately, the viewer.
"I tell my students, you could show 50 people the same photograph, and they could come up with 50 different interpretations," Harris says.
Harris' work focuses on African-American photographers and cultural identity. His 2014 documentary Through a Lens Darklywas nominated for an Emmy award. He's fascinated with what photographs tell us about individuals and the groups to which they belong.
"African-American photographers give us a picture of their communities that tends to be a bit more diverse than someone who is from outside that group," he says, "Perhaps because they might be more familiar with their community, and the people they're taking photographs of."
The civil rights era of the 1950s and 1960s were a turning point for African-Americans depicted in photography, Harris says. Before then, photographs of black Americans emphasized racial stereotypes and criminal behavior. Photos of lynchings were circulated in a grotesque early-1900s form of viral media. But during and after the civil rights movement, visual media showed African-Americans in a much different light.
"As productive people, as people who were educated, raising their kids, facing certain trials, celebrating weddings, graduations, births...being people. Being human," Harris says.
Harris lectures Thursday night at the McClung Museum in Knoxville. Harris’ film Through a Lens Darkly will be shown Friday afternoon at the Hodges Library. He spoke with WUOT All Things Considered host Brandon Hollingsworth on Thursday, September 22.