Harlem Postcards
September–October 2021

Sep 1—Oct 31, 2021

Throughout the twentieth century, Harlem has been regarded as a beacon of African-American history and culture. Sites such as the Apollo Theater, Abyssinian Baptist Church, and Malcolm X Corner, at 125th Street and Seventh Avenue, serve as popular postcard images that represent significant places and moments in this community.  

Today, Harlem continues to evolve as a center of history and culture. Every day, changes are witnessed by its residents and experienced by tourists and visitors from all over the world. Harlem Postcards, an ongoing project, invites contemporary artists of diverse backgrounds to reflect on Harlem as a site of cultural activity, political vitality, and creative production.

Harlem Postcards September—October 2021 is organized by Angelique Rosales Salgado, former Curatorial Fellow, Exhibitions.

Joseph Cuillier, Ruby and Ruth’s Altar (or Blackness is Telepathic), 2021

My late grandmother Ruby Cuillier's home was located in Marrero, LA, directly across the Mississippi River from Uptown New Orleans. Her home was a space where the community would congregate to talk and laugh over creole cooking. More than anything the pandemic and being trapped inside a small Harlem apartment for a year made me homesick and long for my family and the love we share. Which led me to buy a cheap 35mm and document nature and my Hoodoo-inspired spiritual practice. This image is from a day I spent at the northernmost edge of Central Park making ancestral altars as a form of therapy to help get me through.