Family Pictures USA Redefines The Collective Storytelling Process

During the summer of 2017, over a hundred families came together from all over Detroit and its suburbs to share and remember their histories through the lens of an often overlooked historical document : the family photo album. The summer marked the 50 anniversary of the July 1967 uprising, a period of civil unrest that dramatically transformed the city and would leave an enduring impression on the nation.

Through community photo sharing and intimate interviews conducted throughout the Detroit landscape, a new portrait of the city emerged - one told through the voices and family photographs of poets, historians, entrepreneurs, architects, and activists ; people who had lived through the ' 67 uprising and many who hadn't, but had faith in the city's recovery. For the first time, their stories, which challenge and bring life to Detroit history from its founding, will broadcast nationally in a new public television show, Family Pictures USA. For its 2 - hour pilot series, titled " Detroit is the Future and It's Okay ",

Family Pictures USA partnered with the Detroit Historical Society and over 20 cultural, educational, media and religious institutions around the city to host its live photo sharing events. The documentary - style show invites participants to discover hidden narratives in their family albums, and in so doing, enlarges a collective understanding of our history and identity. Detroit makes a fitting starting point, its legacy encapsulating many of the trends, ideals, and industries that would steer the course of US history.

The show stems from the work of executive producer and host Thomas AllenA. Harris, who, in the last decade, has used video, photography, performance, and social media to encourage and empower individuals to explore and share the rich and revealing narratives found within their family photo albums. Harris lectures on media arts, visual literacy, and personal archiving, while also hosting free community photo sharing workshops to a wide public audience. "

[Family Pictures USA ] focuses on looking at a people's history, allowing people to narrate their own stories and write themselves into history. " Harris says. Much of Harris ' work focuses on preserving the archive, a practice Harris identifies as central to examining cross - cultural connections, promoting intergenerational dialogue, and, ultimately, to collective healing. On the show, participants wear white gloves to handle photographs from their family albums, highlighting their value and transforming their relationship with their archives.

"My artistic craft is a participatory one, often working with other people towards collective empowerment to tell stories publicly and through photography, whether in the United States, Brazil, South Africa, and beyond. I'm looking to open up spaces. Foregrounding first person testimonial is so important," Harris says.

Alongside sponsorship from the World Channel, Center for Asian American Media, Independent Television Service, Ford Foundation, Black Public Media, and others, Family Pictures USA is running a crowdfunding campaign to bring " Detroit is the Future, and It's Okay ! " to national broadcast in 2018.

Thomas AllenA. Harris is a filmmaker and artist whose work across film, video, photography, and performance illuminates the human condition and the search for identity, family, and spirituality. His deeply personal films - VINTAGE - Families of Value ( 1995 ), É Minha Cara / That's My Face ( 2001 ), and The Twelve Disciples of Nelson Mandela ( 2005 ), have received critical acclaim at international film festivals such as Sundance, Berlin, Toronto, FESPACO, Outfest, Flaherty, and Cape Town.

His most recent feature film, Through a Lens Darkly : Black Photographers and the Emergence of a People ( 2014 ), which looks at the ways photographic representations serve as tools of representation and self - representation through history, was nominated for both an Emmy and Peabody, and won over 7 international awards including the 2015 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Documentary Film. His latest short film, About Face : The Evolution of a Black Producer ( 2017 ) had its premiere on World AIDS Day at the Whitney Museum of American Art and over 100 institutions worldwide as part of Visual AIDS ' 28th annual Day With ( out ) Art.

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