Further explore the exhibition’s theme of semi-visibility through a slow-looking exercise related to this work.

Transcript
Narrator: This sepia-toned photograph by Lyle Ashton Harris from 2010, "Untitled (Back #150 Lyle)," is approximately 2 feet high by 1 1/2 feet wide. The artist himself poses for the camera in this portrait. The large-format Polaroid photograph is cropped to focus on the back of his head and neck. The image is dark, as if he is melting into a jet-black background with a few points of coppery light illuminating his collar and hat, casting shadows along his neck and head.

The collar of his dark leather jacket is turned up to cover most of his neck. Only the edge where it meets his hairline and the corner of his right ear are visible. Most of his left side blends into the background. Dark-chocolate skin and short curly dark hair peek out below his hat. He wears a beanie, a brimless knit cap with a thick cuff around the edge, resting just above his ears. It fits tight around his head and extends up several inches with a vertical seam along the top. Most of the light is focused toward the top of his beanie, pulling our attention away from the area where his face would be if he was facing the camera.

Ver todos los episodios