This weekend is your last chance to see Teenie Harris: Photographer and American Story at the Carnegie Museum of Art
Journey back in time to an era of Pittsburgh’s unique history and discover Pittsburgh’s Hill District of the early twentieth century, through the camera lens of Charles “Teenie” Harris. The original soundtrack produced by MCG Jazz sets the mood as six projectors roll through life-size black and white images. Bordering on an image intake overload, I advise taking a seat and picking a side displaying three screens. Pittsburgh’s history of a vibrant black community during the Jim Crow and Civil Rights era unfolds as the surrounding stills encompass everything from everyday life to famous individuals including Jackie Robinson, John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr.
Upon stepping into the exhibit’s second room one discovers what makes this exhibit especially unique. Behold beauty with a historical purpose, for the completion of a web-based interactive chronology. Visitors are encouraged to scroll through the images presented on numerous computers filling out forms that identify people, places, and events that lack the proper labeling.
Tyyme Smith works in the exhibit and said, “I’m going to bring her (my mother) next week, when I’m off. And maybe a couple of other family members, because I’m sure they may know a few people in these photographs. Mother worked in a bar and she knew everybody on the hill.” Smith connects her knowledge of the exhibit to local Pittsburgh events regarding the demolishing of the old Pacific Arena known to many as the Dome, “Did y’know, they’re tearing down the pacific arena, the big dome? So the way they have it now, it’s like half a dome and there’s a picture, here in the exhibit of when it was built, and it’s that same piece – exactly a half. I have to get that picture before it goes down to compare it with the one here (in the exhibit). “
Don’t miss your chance to experience and possibly partake in this unique exhibit.
View the collection through this Saturday, April 7 at the Carnegie Museum of Art ~ Free admission with a valid student ID.
View the collection online at www.cmoa.org/teenie