the young people's professor

Carryin’ On is a three-part exhibition focusing on three artists addressing the subject of gender identity. The artists, Charles “Teenie” Harris, Samuel Fosso and Andy Warhol, each bring a perspective on the topic from various vantage points, methods and decades. The exhibition is on view at The Andy Warhol Museum through September 2, 2007.

Charles “Teenie” Harris (1908-1998), was a prominent photojournalist known for documenting mid-20th century Pittsburgh, most often the African-American experience. This particular series of Harris’ work celebrates Black queer life in Pittsburgh’s Hill District from the 1930’s through 1950’s. During Harris' 40-year career with the Pittsburgh Courier, one of the largest and most influential Black newspapers in the country, he produced an estimated collection of 80,000 images. This archive represents the largest single collection of photographic images of any Black community in the US. This series along with the entire Harris collection is part of the Carnegie Museum of Art’s collection. This section of the exhibition is guest curated by Deryck Tines, Pittsburgh performer and artist, in collaboration with Tom Sokolowski, director of The Andy Warhol Museum, and Louise Lippincott, chief curator and curator of fine arts at the Carnegie Museum of Art. These Contemporary gelatin silver prints of Harris' photographs were produced by local photographer Richard Stoner.

“When I saw some of these photos about eight years ago, and the persons in the photos, their contexts, pride, joy, celebration, and sense of community that occurred within my local hill district; I stood in the middle of the sidewalk and cried. I cried for the seeming lack of community in our city today; I cried at the discovery of the history captured in the photos; I cried in celebration of “Teenie” Harris; I cried because the photos were on the street in the strip and not hanging in a gallery somewhere being celebrated. I cried because once again black LGBT people in this region have always been a part of the community – visible, yet invisible; beautiful –yet overlooked; contributors – but not acknowledged; vocal, yet voiceless”, stated Deryck Tines, guest curator of the Charles “Teenie” Harrison portion of the exhibition.

Samuel Fosso is one of Africa's most eminent photographers. His photographs are shown all over Europe and America. From his West African commercial photography studio, Fosso began working on self-portraiture at an early age yet his talents were not discovered until 1994 by a French talent agent. Through these self-portraits, Fosso experimented with new techniques, poses and dress including a series of gender exploration self-portraits included in this exhibition. Born in 1962 in Cameroon and presently residing in Bangui, Fosso’s portraits are often described as campy, serious and cool simultaneously with their painted backgrounds and found props. “The remarkable work of the Congolese photographer, Samuel Fosso will open the eyes of those unfamiliar with current photographic practice in Africa. While westerners may see similarities between the self-portrait series of Cindy Sherman and others, Fosso was totally unaware of these artists when he began his better known work some 30 years ago. His large-scale self-portraits test and stretch the limits of “travesty’ photography moving from an image showing him wearing a slinky evening gown to one of him as an upper class, yacht captain. Each combines dream imagery with a distanced view of the splendors of the First World,” says Thomas Sokolowski, director of The Andy Warhol Museum.

Andy Warhol created a series of paintings, prints and collage studies in 1975 titled Ladies and Gentlemen utilizing a number of New York City drag queens. Warhol sent assistants to the Gilded Grape, a bar on West 45th Street, to recruit models for the series. The Gilded Grape was often frequented by Black and Hispanic transvestites.