Once in Harlem: Intimate Portraits of Harlem Residents Taken by Japanese Photographer Katsu Naito – Design You Trust

Once in Harlem: Intimate Portraits of Harlem Residents Taken by Japanese Photographer Katsu Naito

harlem-1990s-02

In 1983, at only 18 years of age, Katsu Naito arrived in New York from his native Japan to work as a contracted kitchen chef. By 1988 he had settled in Manhattan’s Harlem neighborhood, an area only just recovering from the brutal economic devastation of the 1970s, and on the cusp of the drastic dislocation brought upon longtime residents of this historically black community in the 1990s.

More: Katsu Naito, Amazon h/t: vintag.es

harlem-1990s-03

An outsider in all but residence, Naito traced the streets of his neighborhood on foot, camera in hand, for two years before shooting his first frame. Slowly, Naito became familiar with the people and community he was living amongst, and they with him. Gradually, the necessary trust was built to record, with quiet tenderness, a time and place that would soon undergo an abrupt transformation.

harlem-1990s-04

Organically, Naito was welcomed in as a member of his Harlem neighborhood. Bringing together landscape photography, environmental portraits, and makeshift plein air studio portraits (reminiscent of Richard Avedon’s more elaborate outdoor staging) charged with the empathy and warmth of a kindred spirit, Once in Harlem is as much a continuation of the American photographic tradition of foreign-born artists chronicling American peoples and customs as it is vital historical document.

harlem-1990s-05

Once in Harlem, Naito’s second monograph and first with TBW Books, builds on his remarkable ability to intimately engage with his subjects to create emotional dialogues that can transcend bounds of ethnicity, gender, and socio-economic strata, to, as he puts it, “look into each other’s soul to build another dimension of a relationship.”

harlem-1990s-06
harlem-1990s-07
harlem-1990s-08
harlem-1990s-09
harlem-1990s-10
harlem-1990s-11
harlem-1990s-12
harlem-1990s-13
harlem-1990s-14
harlem-1990s-15
harlem-1990s-16
harlem-1990s-17
harlem-1990s-18
harlem-1990s-19
harlem-1990s-20

If you want more awesome content, subscribe to 'Oh, Design You Trust,' our brand new Facebook page! Trust me, you won't be disappointed.

More Inspiring Stories

Wonderful Vintage Photos Of Female Students At Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts In 1948
Inside a Porsche Factory From the Early 1970s
Amazing Examples Of The Live-Action Reference Filmed For Disney's "Cinderella" In 1950 As You’ve Never Seen Before
25 Rare And Cool Polaroid Prints Of Teen Girls In The 1970s
Soviet Jet Train Able To Reach 160MPH Was Supposed To Change The Future
Incredible Technologies From The Past That Just Look Odd Today
Beautiful Redhead Portraits By Vitaliy Zubchevskiy
Over-stretched?
Stunning Vintage Black-and-White Photos of Edwin Smith
Japanese Artist Paints Hyperrealistic Paintings That Are So Precise You Might Confuse Them With Photos
"Sunken Time": Soviet Russia, XX Century, 1962-1992, In Black & White Photographs By Mikhail Dashevsky
Yokai Horrors From The 18th Century Bakemono Zukushi Scroll - The Nightmarish, Curious And Rather Cute Demons Were Created In The Edo Period
Hippie Van Of The 1960s: Amazing Photographs That Capture People With Their Classic VW Buses
Artist Creates Sensual Portraits Characterised By The Female Presence Of Empowering Women
From Vintage Treasures to Cultural Artifacts: The Enchanting World of Petrol Station Pumps at Fisogni Museum
Wholesome Signs By The Clackamas United Church Of Christ
Beautiful ’60s Fashion Photography by Henry Clarke
Cool Snaps That Show Bedroom Walls In The 1980s
Stunning Photos Show The Sexy Models Of 1980s Autobuff Magazine
Previous Generations Sure Knew a Thing or Two About Style
Winners & Finalists of The 'Indian Photo Festival' Portrait Prize 2020
Sea Creatures Come out for Coney Island's Mermaid Parade
Before Tesla, There Was Anadol, Legendary Turkish Dune Buggy
Photographer Kourtney Roy Makes Eerie Self-Portraits In Desolate Yet Dramatic Locations