AUGUSTA – Noted Maine photographer Séan Alonzo Harris’s “Light Confirms My Reality” is a community-based photo project and exhibition in collaboration with faculty and students at UMA and the Charles Danforth Gallery. The exhibition includes selections from recent photographic projects including Visual Tensions, I Am Not A Stranger and The Space Between.

As Harris writes, “These projects are a proclamation of radical inclusivity, an invitation to see differently, and transform our images and perceptions of others. The photographic document serves to engage the critical issues of race and representation and to make visible the varied, full humanity and expansive beauty of black people.” 

Harris’s exhibition and surrounding events, including a community art project, an artist’s talk, and a keynote discussion with the Portland Museum of Art’s Judy Glickman Lauder Associate Curator of Photography Anjuli Lebowitz, are sponsored by UMA’s Cultural Events Council.

Séan Alonzo Harris: Light Confirms My Reality, on view March 3-31, includes recent photographic projects including Visual Tensions, I Am Not A Stranger and The Space Between. These projects, as collected in this exhibition, are, as Harris writes, “a proclamation of radical inclusivity, an invitation to see differently, and transform our images and perceptions of others. The photographic document serves to engage the critical issues of race and representation and to make visible the varied, full humanity and expansive beauty of black people.”

Harris has written of this exhibition, “Amid the pandemic and nationwide protests spurred by the recent killings of Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia, Breonna Taylor in Kentucky, and George Floyd in Minnesota, I found myself returning to Ralph Ellison’s text Invisible Man. Ellison’s portrayal of how black men are perceived and received resonates deeply with my personal experience, the urgency of the moment, and asks the viewer to see the complexity of race and identity. I continue to ask the question, how can we see differently and how might seeing differently build bridges across differences?

Light Confirms My Reality returns to the themes in Ralph Ellison’s text Invisible Man and engages community members in dialog about seeing and cultivating belonging in our current moment of social fracture and social alienation.”

The exhibition connects to the community art project through a practice of creating closer social connection. As Harris explains, “Students will create photographs as a means to explore their everyday surroundings, to see their communities anew, and illuminate the full humanity and beauty in our homes, neighborhoods and towns. The project will provide a platform to engage in creative expression and animate our connections to each other.”

Community Art Project with artist Séan Alonzo Harris: Light Confirms My Reality

“Light Confirms My Reality” is a community based photo (and other 2D art) project and exhibition, led by artist Séan Alonzo Harris, in collaboration with faculty and students at UMA and the Charles Danforth Gallery. This project is a proclamation of radical inclusivity, an invitation to see differently, and transform our perceptions, and therefore our images, of others. The photographic document or other art object serves to engage the critical issues of race, representation and personal connection: we wish to make visible the varied, full humanity and expansive beauty of all people, particularly those of color.

A group of 10-15 engaged participants will be selected by lottery to work with Séan, Dr. Amy Rahn, Charles Danforth Gallery Director, and Peter Precourt in a series of three (two hour) workshops to create, with Séan’s Leadership, a collaborative project plan. Due to the (hopefully) in-person nature of one or more of these workshops, this project is open to members of the community  who can (Covid-allowing) be present for in-person workshops in Augusta, Maine. Please find the participant form here.

The workshop dates are as follows:

March 7 4-6 p.m.

March 21 4-6 p.m.

March 28 4-6 p.m.

From the workshops, individuals will then go into the community and engage those they recognize by sight, but know little about. Participation in this project will require approximately a 15-hour time commitment, and a desire to see our lesser-known community members with humility, sincerity and open ears and open eyes.

Amid the pandemic and nationwide protests spurred by the recent killings of Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia, Breonna Taylor in Kentucky, and George Floyd in Minnesota, Séan found himself returning to Ralph Ellison’s text “Invisible Man.” Ellison’s portrayal of how black men are perceived and received resonates deeply with Séan’s personal experience, the urgency of the moment, and asks the viewer to see more complexity in race and identity. Séan now invites us to consider: how can we see differently and how might seeing differently build bridges across differences?

“Light Confirms My Reality” returns to the themes in Ralph Ellison’s text “Invisible Man” and engages community members in dialog about seeing and cultivating belonging in our current moment of social fracture and alienation. Participants will create representations as a means to explore their everyday surroundings, to see their communities anew, and illuminate the full humanity and beauty in our homes, neighborhoods and towns. The project will provide a platform to engage in creative expression and animate our connections to each other.

The exhibition, Sean Alonzo Harris: Light Confirms my Reality is on display in the Charles Danforth Gallery at the University of Maine at Augusta from March 9 to April 4. The public is welcome to visit the gallery in Jewett Hall, which is open on Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Funded by the UMA Cultural Events CouncilFollow Danforth Gallery on Facebook and Instagram, and view current, past and upcoming exhibitions at danforth.uma.edu.