SOLE HARLEM
Author TIM VAN DIJK
Artist Louise Amelie and Aljaž Fuis
Website louiseamelie.com and aljazfuis.com
Instagram @louiseamelie and @aljazfs
In the series Sole Harlem, Louise Amelie (Germany, 1991) and Aljaž Fuis (Germany) show the neighborhood of Harlem - only and purely Harlem. The series is the result of a year of living in and walking around this New York neighborhood. Everything you see in the photographs is Harlem: the buildings, the streets and all the people.
The title introduces Harlem as a magical place of longing that only works and lives within, and cannot carry its characteristics to the outside world. People used to mystify this neighborhood, but the people in Harlem are like all other people in the world. They breath the same air, see the same sun and feel the same emotions.
In Sole Harlem the audience gets to experience Harlem and the people that live there up close. The series is filled with stunning portraits, local architecture and day-to-day life of Harlemmers. All these Harlemmers have their own stories, and it would be impossible to tell each and every single one of these stories within a lifetime. Amelie and Fuis aim to tell a handful of these stories by using photography in the book Sole Harlem.