New photo exhibit showcases life and culture of Black New Orleans

22nd August 2022   ·   0 Comments

By Ryan Whirty
Contributing Writer

Long-time photographic artist Polo Silk and many of his family members are virtual strangers at the New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA). For them, the museum that’s hosted all kinds of historical and artistic displays and exhibitions for decades has always been the dominion of white New Orleans, especially middle- and upper-class white folks, a place where Black residents were either restricted or discouraged from attending.

At NOMA, Silk said, Black folks – and their culture and history – never went there. That’s why Silk is so happy and proud that the museum is showing an exhibition of his photography, and especially his portrait and street images, that have captured the everyday lives and everyday people who make up Black New Orleans.

“I never thought this would happen,” Silk said.

The exhibition, entitled, “Picture Man: Portraits by Polo Silk,” opened on July 16 and is scheduled to run until Jan. 8, 2023. The exhibition features 35 images taken by Silk between 1987-2007, with an emphasis on the 1990s.

Silk said that during his career as a photography artist, he did what came naturally to him, and he’s proud of his work and place in New Orleans society and culture.

“I always just wanted to be the best photographer I can be, and that’s all I can be,” he said.

Silk (born Selwhyn Sthaddeus Terrell in 1964) has produced a wide and sterling body of work that portrays the city with several elements of photography, including portraiture, street images, performance and fashion, all of which have made him one of the productive, popular and influential chroniclers of Black life in New Orleans.

Silk was also an innovator in the field of mobile, adaptable and on-the-spot photography by moving from a brick-and-mortar studio into the streets and businesses of the city.

He also developed and evolved the art of instant-photo technology, including Polaroid and other instant film, using it to create supremely unique work that included vibrant colors and a sense of immediacy about himself and his subjects. He frequently sold his snapshots on demand and on the spot, creating an interactive relationship with subjects, largely African Americans.

Brian Piper, the curator of “Picture Man” and the museum’s assistant curator of photographs, said that when he was first introduced to Silk and his work in 2019, he was struck by the breathtaking breadth and vibrancy of the photos and Silk’s ability to chronicle the city’s history.

“I was amazed at how he used mobile studios to take out to cultural events and create these photographic conversations with his subjects,” Piper said.

Piper also noted Silk’s popularity in the Black community and his ability to blend into the canvas of culture by, for example, taking what would now be known as “selfies.”

“I don’t know of anyone else whose photographic archives are as vast and extensive as his,” Piper said, adding that the city and its people are “incredibly blessed” that Silk has managed to preserve and cultivate those archives.

“Just the fact that he was out there [in the public] just doing it and doing it” is astounding, Piper said, adding that the artist’s body of work captures “a really important look at New Orleans.”

Silk said he was inspired early on by the media and art found in Black households when he was growing up.

“People in the Black community always had [framed] magazines on the wall,” he said. “I used to gravitate to those pictures, gravitate to those magazines.”

Silk added that he’s always been aware that although New Orleans is a majority Black city, people have been underrepresented in all facets of society, culture and history. That’s where he finds motivation – motivation to both create great art and to secure the financial futures of his loved ones, especially his five daughters, through his work.

He said he’s been blessed with the opportunity to do all of that, and more, for his family, for his subjects and for his community.

“It’s not about me,” Silk said of his body of work. “It’s about the city and the people who have allowed me to photograph them and the culture.”

As such, he’s grateful for his subjects’ willingness to be captured on film and for the opportunities their welcoming nature opened for him.

“New Orleans is the most magical city in the world,” he said. “There’s always something for me to do, so I’m thankful.”

Silk said he’s proud he and his work has gone a long way to breaking down the intimidating social barriers that historically had pushed people of color away from the halls of NOMA – a facility constructed more than a century ago by poor Black workers who were then forbidden, by law and by custom, from entering and enjoying.

“Now my work is on display for all our people to see,” he said. “It’s another door I’m going through…It means the world to me,” he added.

The “Picture Man” project will also run concurrently with another Black photography exhibition by NOMA, entitled, “Called to the Camera: Black American Studio Photographers,” that opens Sept. 16 and runs until Jan. 8. “Called to the Camera” examines the impact of African-American studio photographers on art history and Black culture in America.

This article originally published in the August 22, 2022 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.