Through The Lens Darkly, Photography and Perception

Living Through The Lens

“There are things known and there are things unknown, and in between are the doors of perception.” – Aldous Huxley

Through A Lens Darkly

Image Source Through A Lens Darkly Official Facebook Page

Thomas Allen Harris’s latest film, “Through a Lens Darkly: Black Photographers and the Emergence of a People” explores the history of African-Americans photography.

“The film examines the photographic record black Americans have made of their own experiences and also the ways they have been depicted by the larger society.” Excerpt from The New York Times, Race Seen Through View Finders

Interview and Trailer | Director Thomas Allen Harris sits down for an interview with Democracy Now to discuss the film.

(Video)

Visit Digital Diaspora Family Reunion (DDFR) for more information.

Visit 1world1family.me for screening updates.

Some reviews are critical of the film and it's intent.  Clayton Dillard of Slant Magazine states, "Harris struggles to precisely articulate the intent of his documentary, which vacillates between insular digressions about prominent black figures within the contemporary artistic milieu, broader info-doc orientations, and poetic acts of autonomous, personal history, no better epitomized than Harris's delving into his own family history in part of the film's final third."

The film piqued my interest due to the ongoing portrayal of African Americans in media. Most recent being the use of #IfTheyGunnedMeDown in response to the Ferguson, MO shooting.  

All photographs are subject to perception and interpretation.

"Photographs have tremendous power to communicate information. But they also have tremendous power to communicate misinformation, especially if we’re not careful how we read them." Read More | UNC School of Education, Reading photographs