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02 / THE MAN BEHIND THE CAMERA
From Queens.
For the record.
At five, Kenny Harris was helping his father in the darkroom. By fifteen, he was photographing music legends. The camera became his way of keeping the people, places, and stories around him alive.
From South Jamaica to Madison Square Garden, from the Million Man March to backstage with generations of artists, his photographs are a record of culture from the inside.
Kenneth “Kenny” Harris PHOTOGRAPHER · WITNESS · NEW YORKER
IN HIS OWN WORDSTHE KENNETH HARRIS ARCHIVE
MEET KENNY HARRIS
A lifetime.
A thousand stories.
VIDEO PRESENTATION COMING SOONKenny Harris, in his own words.
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“A photograph stops time. It stops death. As long as these files exist, we exist.”— KENNETH HARRIS
Read Kenny’s story
The teenage prodigy
Born in 1955 at Queens General Hospital and raised in the 40 Projects of South Jamaica, Kenny grew up around photography. After his father Jack Harris’s death, his eldest brother, Ptah Hotep, placed a Canon rangefinder in his hands.
As a teenager, he photographed Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, and Nina Simone, found his way courtside at Madison Square Garden, and documented the 1973 funeral of Clifford Glover.
The second chapter
After stepping away from photography in 1974, Kenny returned to the camera in 1995 at his brother’s urging. At the Million Man March, he spent approximately twenty hours photographing on the National Mall and exposed twenty rolls of film.
Alongside his wife and creative partner, Cynthia Horner, he continued documenting music, politics, entertainment, and Black cultural life. Together, they co-founded Cinnamon Flix and Right On Media LLC.
A life beyond the camera
An athlete, community organizer, distance runner, and public servant, Kenny helped build community through basketball tournaments at IS 8 and Montebello Park. He also worked for the New York City Parks Department.
Today, preserving his negatives, prints, contact sheets, and uncut rolls of film means preserving the people and stories within them.
