OVER THE MOON
African American Arcade Photos and the Art of the Painted Background
Self-realization and aspiration in vernacular portraiture 1930-1970
OVER THE MOON brings together approximately 200 African American arcade and studio portraits made between 1930 and 1970. Drawn from the Kevin Harris Collection, the photographs reveal how ordinary people used the camera, clothing, gesture, painted backgrounds, and the conventions of the portrait studio to participate in shaping how they would be seen and remembered.
The book considers these photographs not simply as anonymous vernacular objects, but as records of self-presentation, aspiration, dignity, and individual agency.
Kevin Harris · 212 pages · Full color · 7 × 9 inches · Paperback · $45