Heron Arts Presents

Street Opera

Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA) in partnership with Heron Arts Presents

Field Niggas Film Screening @ YBCA

Khalik Allah

Film Screening: August 15, 2015 @ YBCA, 4-6pm
701 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94103
Opening Reception: August 15, 2015 @ Heron Arts, 6-9pm
7 Heron Street, San Francisco, CA 94103
Exhibition Dates: August 15 - September 12, 2015, by appointment only

Heron Arts is pleased to present Street Opera, a collection of images from Harlem's official street photographer, Khalik Allah. Street Opera is a vivid and visceral portrayal of urban life and the human characters that inhabit it. Shooting at 125th and Lexington in Harlem, Allah's street photography gives a powerful glimpse into the spirit and character of those living in Harlem. Please join us Saturday August 15th from 4-6pm at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA) for the screening of Field Niggas followed by an opening reception at Heron Arts from 6-9pm. New photographs will be shown, the artist will be in attendance and there will be refreshments and performance by jazz quartet Acme Anvil Drop. The exhibition will be on display at Heron Arts through September 12, by appointment only.

Heron Arts is pleased to present this photographic work and opening reception in conjunction with the afternoon screening of Field Niggas at YBCA, part of their film series Maggot Brains: Black Sci-Fi, Punk & Experimental Film. Field Niggas has received recent acclaim in the festival and college circuits along with noted press in both the New York Times and Time Magazine.

Field Niggas explores the lives of Harlem's street dwellers with a rich use of color, dreamlike motion sequences and fades, and an intimate narrative. Street Opera is an exhibition of still photography from the artist. Many of the photographs at Heron Arts have never before been shown in public.

Khalik Allah (b.1985) is a New York based photographer and filmmaker. His work is simultaneously visceral, hauntingly beautiful and penetrative. Khalik's passion for photography was sparked when he began photographing members of the Wu-Tang Clan with a camera borrowed from his father. Real and raw, his profoundly personal work goes beyond street photography. His eye for daring portraiture and bold aesthetics take us into an immersive world.

It is through Khalik Allah's approachable demeanor and likeable sensibility that he is able to gain access to the lives of many in Harlem. He connects with people by showing them portraits he has previously captured, displaying the integrity of his work from the very start. It is through this personal process that the artist is able to connect with his subjects on such a deep level and capture such intimate photographs.

While the photographs he takes on the corner of 125th and Lexington Avenue in Harlem have been his central inspiration, his work also extends to documentary film with Field Niggas, a chronicle of summer nights spent at the intersection. The film takes its name from Malcolm X’s famous lecture, "Message to the Grassroots." Khalik shoots with a manual, analogue film camera, photography and filmmaking forming a venn diagram in his work.

Interview Opportunities
With directors of Heron Arts, Noah Antieau and Tova Lobatz
With the artist, Khalik Allah

Gallery Hours
Open by appointment only

Contact Info
tova@heronarts.com
noah@heronarts.com