We Found Us: Expanding the Walls 2019

On display is work by the fifteen artists in the 2018–19 cohort of Expanding the Walls: Making Connections Between Photography, History, and Community, an annual, eight-month residency at The Studio Museum in Harlem in which New York City–area high-school participants explore the history and techniques of photography.

This exhibition reflects on the artists' personal and collective development and captures what they find significant in their daily lives. It demonstrates their shared interest in storytelling, technical experimentation, and the possibilities of photography as a channel for expression. We Found Us is a declaration born as the artists grappled with themes of selfhood and community, and found new perspectives on the world through their cameras and one another. Each artist takes command of their own narrative and shows us what we would otherwise not see.

Since the founding of the Expanding the Walls program in 2001, the archive of the Harlem photographer James VanDerZee (1886–1983), housed at the Studio Museum, has been a catalyst for the participants' critical reflections on the representation of culture and community. In this exhibition, selections from the archive are on view alongside the artists' works, which place a contemporary lens on VanDerZee's visual commentary on community, history, and representation. (There are also works by VanDerZee in The Met collection, althought they are not currently on view.)

We Found Us: Expanding the Walls 2019 is organized by Alex Adams, Curatorial Fellow at The Studio Museum in Harlem, and Mia Matthias, Joint Curatorial Fellow at The Studio Museum in Harlem and The Museum of Modern Art, with Ginny Huo, Senior Coordinator, Teen Programs, The Studio Museum in Harlem, and the 2018–19 Expanding the Walls participants. Special thanks to photographer and educator Isaac Diggs for his mentorship and continued support of the program.

This exhibition is presented in partnership with The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Studio Museum in Harlem would like to thank The Met for generously hosting this exhibition in the Ruth and Harold D. Uris Center for Education during construction of the Studio Museum's new building.

The Expanding the Walls program is made possible with support from The Keith Haring Foundation Education Fund; Conscious Kids; New York State Council on the Arts, with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature; Joy of Giving Something; and Colgate-Palmolive. Additional support for The Studio Museum in Harlem's education programs is provided by the Thompson Foundation Education Fund; Gray Foundation; Joseph and Joan Cullman Foundation for the Arts; Con Edison; and the Hearst Endowment Fund.

The Studio Museum in Harlem is deeply grateful for Donna Mussenden VanDerZee's continued support of Expanding the Walls.