Naomi Harris
EUSA
August 27 – September 19, 2015
Circuit Gallery @ Prefix ICA
401 Richmond Street West, Suite 124
Toronto, ON, M5V 3A8
Artist’s Reception: Friday, September 11, 6-9 PM
Gallery Hours: Tuesday – Saturday, 11 AM – 5 PM
Circuit Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of photographs by Naomi Harris from her new project EUSA, which documents American-themed places in Europe and European-themed places in America.
Since 2008 Harris has travelled across Europe and the United States visiting themed-towns, amusement parks, and festivals, photographing the ways in which popularly received ideas about one culture get expressed in the other.
Her work reflects a trade in signs. An important premise for most of these sites is tourism, where the deliberate manufacturing and consumption of ethnicity and cultural heritage play out through the symbolic markers of food, costume, architecture, and performance.
The places represented run the gamut of who is doing this cultural manufacturing, for whom, and why. In “Olde-World” towns like Solvang, California; New Glarus, Wisconsin; or Orange City, Iowa the respective Danish, Swiss, or Dutch heritage being celebrated is ostensibly that of a significant segment of the local population and reflects a desire for authenticity. In other places the “heritage” is blatantly designed and marketed purely for its entertainment and escapist value. This is the case with many of the Western theme-parks visited in Europe, but also in such places as Busch Gardens or Las Vegas in the United States.
In many cases it is hard, at first, to locate where and when these pictures were taken: are we in the U.S, or somewhere in Europe? Upon closer examination, something inevitably reveals itself as out of place, and we realize our “mistake”. In other images it is much more obvious that what we are looking at is constructed and artificial – from benign pastiche to the more insidious and offensive forms of cultural appropriation.
Harris has a sharp eye for these relationships and for capturing the often funny, ridiculous and cute, but also the awkward and uncomfortable details that serve to heighten our perception of the subject at hand. The accumulated images offer a barrage and mash-up of stereotypes, signs and symbols. Places, traditions, cultures and histories become confused, condensed, and conflated. We often do not quite know what we are looking at, but the cumulative effect is as engaging and rewarding as it is challenging.
EUSA is an ambitious project that invites all sorts of interesting and important questions about authenticity, cultural identity, and appropriation, about the function of, and need fulfilled by, these “other-directed” places and their enduring appeal.
The exhibition is curated by Claire Sykes.
Naomi Harris: EUSA runs August 27 through September 19 at Circuit Gallery @ Prefix ICA, with a reception for the artist on Friday, September 11, from 6 – 9 PM.
Artist Bio
Naomi Harris is a Canadian photographer primarily working in portraiture who seeks to document interesting cultural trends through her subjects. Her personal projects include Haddon Hall, America Swings (published as a monograph by Taschen, 2008), EUSA, and the on-going Oh Canada. She has exhibited internationally and has received numerous awards and recognitions, most recently a New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) Fellowship in Photography, and a Long-Term Career Advancement Grant from the Canada Council for the Arts. She currently divides her time between Toronto and Los Angeles.
Artist Page: Naomi Harris
Curriculum Vitae (CV)
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Naomi Harris CV [PDF]
Works Exhibited
See additional here
Street Sweeper, Tulip Festival, Orange City, Iowa, from the project EUSA, 2008-2015
Medium: photography; archival pigment print
Size: 16″ x 16″; Edition: 10 + 1AP
Size: 24″ × 24″; Edition: 5 + 1AP
Maifest Maiden, Bavarian Festival, Frankenmuth, Michigan, from the project EUSA, 2008-2015
Medium: photography; archival pigment print
Size: 16″ x 16″; Edition: 10 + 1AP
Size: 24″ × 24″; Edition: 5 + 1AP
Fur Trappers, High Chaparral, Hillerstorp, Sweden, from the project EUSA, 2008-2015
Medium: photography; archival pigment print
Size: 16″ x 16″; Edition: 10 + 1AP
Size: 24″ × 24″; Edition: 5 + 1AP
Genteel Couple, Western Park, Czech Republic, from the project EUSA, 2008-2015
Medium: photography; archival pigment print
Size: 16″ x 16″; Edition: 10 + 1AP
Size: 24″ × 24″; Edition: 5 + 1AP
Girl with Goat, Maifest, Leavenworth, Washington, from the project EUSA, 2008-2015
Medium: photography; archival pigment print
Size: 16″ x 16″; Edition: 10 + 1AP
Size: 24″ × 24″; Edition: 5 + 1AP
‘Mexican’ Father and Son, Brezno, Czech Republic, from the project EUSA, 2008-2015
Medium: photography; archival pigment print
Size: 16″ x 16″; Edition: 10 + 1AP
Size: 24″ × 24″; Edition: 5 + 1AP
Dog in Bonnet, Tulip Festival, Orange City, Iowa, from the project EUSA, 2008-2015
Medium: photography; archival pigment print
Size: 16″ x 16″; Edition: 10 + 1AP
Size: 24″ × 24″; Edition: 5 + 1AP
1977 Caprice, Rock & Roll and US Car Weekend, Agárd, Hungary, from the project EUSA, 2008-2015
Medium: photography; archival pigment print
Size: 16″ x 16″; Edition: 10 + 1AP
Size: 24″ × 24″; Edition: 5 + 1AP
Sheriff, Westernstadt Pullman City, Eging am See, Germany, from the project EUSA, 2008-2015
Medium: photography; archival pigment print
Size: 16″ x 16″; Edition: 10 + 1AP
Size: 24″ × 24″; Edition: 5 + 1AP
German ‘Indians’, Westernstadt Pullman City, Eging am See, Germany, from the project EUSA, 2008-2015
Medium: photography; archival pigment print
Size: 16″ x 16″; Edition: 10 + 1AP
Size: 24″ × 24″; Edition: 5 + 1AP
Wurst Fest Attendee, Wurst Fest, New Braufnels, Texas, from the project EUSA, 2008-2015
Medium: photography; archival pigment print
Size: 16″ x 16″; Edition: 10 + 1AP
Size: 24″ × 24″; Edition: 5 + 1AP
Union Soldier with Daughter, High Chaparral, Hillerstorp, Sweden, from the project EUSA, 2008-2015
Medium: photography; archival pigment print
Size: 16″ x 16″; Edition: 10 + 1AP
Size: 24″ × 24″; Edition: 5 + 1AP
Oompah or Death, Wurst Fest, New Braufnels, Texas, from the project EUSA, 2008-2015
Medium: photography; archival pigment print
Size: 16″ x 16″; Edition: 10 + 1AP
Size: 24″ × 24″; Edition: 5 + 1AP
Rockabilly Girls, Rock & Roll and US Car Weekend, Agárd, Hungary, from the project EUSA, 2008-2015
Medium: photography; archival pigment print
Size: 16″ x 16″; Edition: 10 + 1AP
Size: 24″ × 24″; Edition: 5 + 1AP
Mother Adjusting Sons Pants, Tulip Festival, Orange City, Iowa, from the project EUSA, 2008-2015
Medium: photography; archival pigment print
Size: 16″ x 16″; Edition: 10 + 1AP
Size: 24″ × 24″; Edition: 5 + 1AP
‘German’ Cowgirl, Wurst Fest, New Braufnels, Texas, from the project EUSA, 2008-2015
Medium: photography; archival pigment print
Size: 16″ x 16″; Edition: 10 + 1AP
Size: 24″ × 24″; Edition: 5 + 1AP
Man in Lederhosen T-Shirt, Helen, Georgia, from the project EUSA, 2008-2015
Medium: photography; archival pigment print
Size: 16″ x 16″; Edition: 10 + 1AP
Size: 24″ × 24″; Edition: 5 + 1AP
French Girls with Eiffel Tower, Las Vegas, Nevada, from the project EUSA, 2008-2015
Medium: photography; archival pigment print
Size: 16″ x 16″; Edition: 10 + 1AP
Size: 24″ × 24″; Edition: 5 + 1AP
Tipi with Ferris Wheel, OK Corral, Cuges Les Pins, France, from the project EUSA, 2008-2015
Medium: photography; archival pigment print
Size: 16″ x 16″; Edition: 10 + 1AP
Size: 24″ × 24″; Edition: 5 + 1AP
Alphorn, Maifest, Leavenworth, Washington, from the project EUSA, 2008-2015
Medium: photography; archival pigment print
Size: 16″ x 16″; Edition: 10 + 1AP
Size: 24″ × 24″; Edition: 5 + 1AP
Trading Post, High Chaparral, Hillerstorp, Sweden, from the project EUSA, 2008-2015
Medium: photography; archival pigment print
Size: 16″ x 16″; Edition: 10 + 1AP
Size: 24″ × 24″; Edition: 5 + 1AP
Train Bandits, High Chaparral, Hillerstorp, Sweden, from the project EUSA, 2008-2015
Medium: photography; archival pigment print
Size: 16″ x 16″; Edition: 10 + 1AP
Size: 24″ × 24″; Edition: 5 + 1AP
Sioux City, Canary Islands, from the project EUSA, 2008-2015
Medium: photography; archival pigment print
Size: 16″ x 16″; Edition: 10 + 1AP
Size: 24″ × 24″; Edition: 5 + 1AP
Monument Valley, Cowboyland, Voghera, Italy, from the project EUSA, 2008-2015
Medium: photography; archival pigment print
Size: 16″ x 16″; Edition: 10 + 1AP
Size: 24″ × 24″; Edition: 5 + 1AP
De Zwaan, Holland, Michigan, from the project EUSA, 2008-2015
Medium: photography; archival pigment print
Size: 16″ x 16″; Edition: 10 + 1AP
Size: 24″ × 24″; Edition: 5 + 1AP
Rest Rooms, Holland, Michigan, from the project EUSA, 2008-2015
Medium: photography; archival pigment print
Size: 16″ x 16″; Edition: 10 + 1AP
Size: 24″ × 24″; Edition: 5 + 1AP
Gondola Ride, Las Vegas, Nevada, from the project EUSA, 2008-2015
Medium: photography; archival pigment print
Size: 16″ x 16″; Edition: 10 + 1AP
Size: 24″ × 24″; Edition: 5 + 1AP
Bernese Mountain Dogs, Maifest, Leavenworth, Washington, from the project EUSA, 2008-2015
Medium: photography; archival pigment print
Size: 16″ x 16″; Edition: 10 + 1AP
Size: 24″ × 24″; Edition: 5 + 1AP
Girls Preparing Flags, Wilhelm Tell Days, New Glarus, Wisconsin, from the project EUSA, 2008-2015
Medium: photography; archival pigment print
Size: 16″ x 16″; Edition: 10 + 1AP
Size: 24″ × 24″; Edition: 5 + 1AP
Maidens Texting, Bavarian Festival, Frankenmuth, Michigan, from the project EUSA, 2008-2015
Medium: photography; archival pigment print
Size: 16″ x 16″; Edition: 10 + 1AP
Size: 24″ × 24″; Edition: 5 + 1AP
Maibaum Dancers, Maifest, Leavenworth, Washington, from the project EUSA, 2008-2015
Medium: photography; archival pigment print
Size: 16″ x 16″; Edition: 10 + 1AP
Size: 24″ × 24″; Edition: 5 + 1AP
Serving Smørbrøds, Little Norway Festival, Petersburg, Alaska, from the project EUSA, 2008-2015
Medium: photography; archival pigment print
Size: 16″ x 16″; Edition: 10 + 1AP
Size: 24″ × 24″; Edition: 5 + 1AP
Man Applying Make-up, West ‘n Bike, Porcieu-Amblagnieu, France, from the project EUSA, 2008-2015
Medium: photography; archival pigment print
Size: 16″ x 16″; Edition: 10 + 1AP
Size: 24″ × 24″; Edition: 5 + 1AP
Civil War Reenactment Battle, Brezno, Czech Republic, from the project EUSA, 2008-2015
Medium: photography; archival pigment print
Size: 16″ x 16″; Edition: 10 + 1AP
Size: 24″ × 24″; Edition: 5 + 1AP
American History Show, Westernstadt Pullman City, Eging am See, Germany, from the project EUSA, 2008-2015
Medium: photography; archival pigment print
Size: 16″ x 16″; Edition: 10 + 1AP
Size: 24″ × 24″; Edition: 5 + 1AP
Studebaker, Rock & Roll and US Car Weekend, Agárd, Hungary, from the project EUSA, 2008-2015
Medium: photography; archival pigment print
Size: 16″ x 16″; Edition: 10 + 1AP
Size: 24″ × 24″; Edition: 5 + 1AP
Making Aebelskivers, Danish Days, Solvang, California, from the project EUSA, 2008-2015
Medium: photography; archival pigment print
Size: 16″ x 16″; Edition: 10 + 1AP
Size: 24″ × 24″; Edition: 5 + 1AP
Corn Dog, Tulip Festival, Orange City, Iowa, from the project EUSA, 2008-2015
Medium: photography; archival pigment print
Size: 16″ x 16″; Edition: 10 + 1AP
Size: 24″ × 24″; Edition: 5 + 1AP
Poolside with Tipis, OK Corral, Cuges Les Pins, France, from the project EUSA, 2008-2015
Medium: photography; archival pigment print
Size: 16″ x 16″; Edition: 10 + 1AP
Size: 24″ × 24″; Edition: 5 + 1AP
Becky Wearing Antennas, Wurst Fest, New Braufnels, Texas, from the project EUSA, 2008-2015
Medium: photography; archival pigment print
Size: 16″ x 16″; Edition: 10 + 1AP
Size: 24″ × 24″; Edition: 5 + 1AP
Pie Eating Contest, Bavarian Festival, Frankenmuth, Michigan, from the project EUSA, 2008-2015
Medium: photography; archival pigment print
Size: 16″ x 16″; Edition: 10 + 1AP
Size: 24″ × 24″; Edition: 5 + 1AP
German ‘Indian’ Watching the Show, Karl May Spiel, Bad Segeberg, Germany, from the project EUSA, 2008-2015
Medium: photography; archival pigment print
Size: 16″ x 16″; Edition: 10 + 1AP
Size: 24″ × 24″; Edition: 5 + 1AP
Cantina Show, OK Corral, Cuges Les Pins, France, from the project EUSA, 2008-2015
Medium: photography; archival pigment print
Size: 16″ x 16″; Edition: 10 + 1AP
Size: 24″ × 24″; Edition: 5 + 1AP
Viking on a Bike, Danish Days, Solvang, California, from the project EUSA, 2008-2015
Medium: photography; archival pigment print
Size: 16″ x 16″; Edition: 10 + 1AP
Size: 24″ × 24″; Edition: 5 + 1AP
Availability & Pricing
Current prices range from $500 – $2,500 depending on size, and increase as the edition sells.
Please contact the gallery for more information, including current availability and pricing.