Carla Jay Harris,
Snake Bearer IV, 2018-2019/2020
Estimated Value: $1,100

Archival pigment print
14 x 11 inches
Unframed
AP
Signed, verso
Donated by the artist, courtesy of Luis De Jesus Los Angeles.

Carla Jay Harris' mission is to document intellectual, emotional and psychological environments. She trained as a photographer; however, in recent years, she has developed a multidisciplinary practice that includes photography, installation, collage, and drawing. This transformation was inspired by her desire to bring together her interests in image-making, space, and spectatorship. Her interest in installation is rooted in her desire to create space for cross-cultural dialogue - creating such spaces is an outlet for political and social activism.

Harris's creative process begins with a lengthy period of research and writing. She draws from scholarly research, interviews, local history and her family archives to ground her work in lived experiences. From there, she uses the camera (in studio or on the street) to compose the foundational images of the work on film. Finally, she scans these images into her digital studio where they are combined with hand-drawn illustration and digital collage.

The Snake Bearers is comprised of a set of archival pigment prints and is part of her Celestial Bodies series that draws inspiration from Harris's experience as a “third culture kid.” Othered by race, language, culture, and nationality, she was drawn to mythology which has become central to her work. Throughout history, mythology has served humankind's desire to understand its surroundings, nature, and society. Through myth-making Harris taps into a sense of belonging that extends from notions of kinship to universal cultural concerns and narratives.

About the Artist:
Carla Jay Harris

Born in Indianapolis, IN, but raised traveling the globe as the child of a military officer, Carla Jay Harris’ social and artistic development was impacted tremendously by the geopolitical and natural environments she encountered. She fervently believes that space (physical and physiological) has a fundamental, lasting impact on personal identity. While the environment around us is constantly evolving, photography has the power to capture humanity in a place, in a moment - transforming a flicker in time into a lasting, appreciable statement. Carla’s work has been exhibited nationally and internationally at the California African American Museum, CA; the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, CA; the Southern, Charleston, SC; Smack Mellon, Brooklyn, NY; and the Museum of Fine Arts Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada. She has been the beneficiary of several grants and fellowships, including the Hoyt Scholarship, Resnick Fellowship and a grant from the Pasadena Art Alliance. Carla completed undergraduate coursework at the School of Visual Arts in New York, received her Bachelor’s degree with distinction from the University of Virginia, and her MFA from UCLA in 2015. She currently lives and works in Los Angeles, CA.

Website: carlajayharris.com | luisdejesus.com
Facebook: /CarlaJayHarrisArtist | /LuisDeJesusLA
Instagram: @carlajayharris | @luisdejesuslosangeles