Artist to Research: Alex Harris

Of all the photographers and bodies of work listed, Alex Harris’s work in Alaska and more specifically to his series titled “The Last and First Eskimos 1973-1978” spoke to me the most. The book, The Last and First Eskimos, a collaboration between Robert Coles and Harris, is a social documentary project on Eskimo villages in Alaska. This includes a diverse group of photographs ranging from images of the environment, to environmental portraits to close up images of the people themselves.

Harris has a rather direct approach in his work that I could relate to in my own work. Actually, it’s an approach I struggle with and am hoping to someday conquer. The individuals Harris has photographed acknowledge the camera and seem to express themselves well with it. The Last and First Eskimos is for the most part a series of portraits of intuits in Alaska in their communities. My work is a series of portraits on individuals in a work community and attempting to show the diversity present in that environment. In both Harris’s work and my own we are attempting to document and, in a sense, elevate the individuals, I feel. There is a feeling of nobility to some of the individuals Harris has photographed, which is more evident in some of his photographs of the elder generations and yet are seen in the younger as well. There is a sense of quiet dignity to some of the images such as in the link below.

Alex Harris | 1973-1978: The Last and First Eskimos | 03-frontis of boy with seaweed on log tununak

It is evident throughout his body of work that the people in these communities are very comfortable with Harris being there, which is something that I respect and admire. He spent a year and a half living with these people. I’ve spent 4 years working with my group of people and yet they shy away from me when my camera appears. To me, Harris, however, still has a bit of an anthropologic approach to some of the shots, which leads to an outsider feel. The upfront environmental portraits seem to have a photographer as an active observer (outsider) to myself versus images such as his Schoolhouse Fire photograph linked below which has a belonging feel to it. This combination of approaches works smoothly though and I believe adds a bit more depth to the project.

Alex Harris | 1973-1978: The Last and First Eskimos | 11-selawik fire

The more anthropological/outsider approach is visible in this next photograph. Please keep in mind, however, that there is still a level of comfortableness with the subject, but it has more of a "I'm a photographer and I'm documenting you" approach than "I'm part of the community and photographing what I see and experience."

Alex Harris | 1973-1978: The Last and First Eskimos | 26-teen guitar newtok

I feel like I can draw on Harris’s work as inspiration for my own as his compositions and lighting are much more elegant and evocative than my own and yet he and I seem to be in the same situations, interior and exterior, with the same overall subject matter (individuals in a community). Harris has brought out the beauty to his subjects while also bringing the viewers attentions to the similarities and differences of the culture itself. It's aesthetic documentary photography in the hands of a master and something that I aspire to be able to produce.