Alex Harsley
Alex Harsley is an American photographer, multimedia artist and founder of the Fourth Street Photo Gallery who lives and works in New York City.
Early life and education
Harsley was born to a Methodist mother in Rock Hill and began working on the family cotton and peanut farm as a child during World War II. He met his father, a soldier, in 1945. Harsley moved to New York City in 1948.Career
Harsley purchased his first real camera, an Exakta XV, in 1959. His first job in New York was a bike messenger, allowing him to multitask as a street photographer. Harsley was the first black photographer in the New York City District Attorney’s office under Frank Hogan. In 1959 he had his first photo exhibition in Harlem.Originally Harsley worked in street photography, events and portraiture. He has photographed John Coltrane and Ray Charles at the Apollo, Sarah Vaughn at Birdland, Muhammad Ali, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Shirley Chisholm’s nomination for President.He photographed activists Harry Belefonte, Coretta Scott King, Paul Robeson Jr and Angela Davis when they met for the first time at a benefit in 1972. A Harsley photo of Muhammad Ali adorned Darren Walker's office in 2019.
Harsley began working in video and digital photography, creating experimental video works and collaborating with artist David Hammons with many of his performance works. Hammons' "Phat Free" video was a collaboration with Harsley and was included in the 1997 Whitney Biennial.