Loyola exhibit pays tribute to the legacy of New Orleans photographer

By Makenna Mincey
Contributing Writer

Loyola University of New Orleans is honoring its former long-time photographer, Harold Baquet, with a special photo exhibit featuring his work documenting Black life and major historical moments in the city.

“A Tribute to Harold Baquet: Picturing Blackness” held its opening banquet on Oct. 24 to recognize the cultural significance of Black photography to New Orleans. The exhibit is housed in the Diboll Design Center, located in the Monroe Library on the 4th floor of the Loyola campus, and is free to the public.

Photographer, writer and adjunct professor at Loyola, L. Kasimu Harris curated the exhibit. “Picturing Blackness” features 10 other photographers whose works have been important to Black and brown communities of New Orleans, including Jamal Barnes, Edward Buckles, Delaney George, Camille Farrah Lenain, Ashley Lorraine, Girard Mouton III, Akasha Rabut, Tod Smith, Trenity Thomas and Eric Waters.

“I wanted work that just pushed visual boundaries…someone who was trying to really be creative in whatever they were doing,” Harris said.

“It [photography] is…proof of existence…documenting and preserving something that happened. And photography, much like journalism, one could consider to be the first draft of history,” he continued.

Harold Baquet was a New Orleans native who photographed the political and social lives of Black people for 30 years. Baquet began his career as a freelance photographer for various news outlets including The Louisiana Weekly, The Times Picayune, Reuters and The Associated Press. He began his journey documenting the daily lives of New Orleanians as the staff photographer for Mayor Ernest M. Morial, the first Black mayor of New Orleans, and then Sidney Barthelemy, the second Black mayor of the city. In his role, Baquet documented the many subcultures found across the city. He would serve in that position from 1984 to 1989, before accepting a role as Loyola’s photographer, where he worked for 25 years.

For Baquet, photography was not just a job, it was his passion and life’s work.

“I learned more about Baquet and the impact he had on so many people…I learned what it looked like to see someone who had an unwavering love and commitment to their craft,” Harris explained.

“Most of the images we see and show are images that he took when he wasn’t on assignment; personal work,” he said.

Harold Baquet passed in 2015, but with this exhibit, his legacy lives on.

The photographers chosen to be featured alongside him respond to his photography with their own take on the style he curated. The exhibition will be open to the public until November 2 during library hours: Mondays through Fridays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturdays and Sundays from 11a.m. to 5 p.m.

“I want people to come, see the work, connect with the work, learn more about New Orleans and just learn about the wonderful photographers we have here,” Harris said.

This article originally published in the October 28, 2024 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.