>> BOWEN: I’m Jared Bowen, coming up on Open Studio, the poignant and provocative self-portraits of Lyle Ashton Harris.

Then we capture the inaugural impressions the Obama portraits made on their stop in Boston.

>> Oh, literally, when I walked in, I got chills.

I felt very proud.

The first thing I said was, "Oh, my God, this is so dope seeing Black people represented in this way."

>> BOWEN: Plus, a renewed art form steps forward with Step Afrika!

(rhythmic singing, stomping, clapping) It’s all now on Open Studio.

♪ ♪ First up, Lyle Ashton Harris is an artist who uses self-portraiture as a way to ultimately turn the lens on society, creating images that make us look at ourselves as much as we’re looking at him.

That work and much more is now on view at the Rose Art Museum in an exhibition that spans his 35-year career.

Lyle Ashton Harris, thank you so much for being with us.

>> Thank you for having me.

>> BOWEN: So your show is titled "Our First and Last Love at the Rose."

And you're all over the show, which sounds like a weird thing to say because, of course, every artist has created their work.

But this is so much about you, it is of you, it's your history.

So describe for me what the show represents to you.

>> The title itself, "Our First and Last Love," is actually from a fortune cookie.

I was in on Pike's Market in Seattle in '91 with my former partner, a soulmate of mine, Tommy Gear, and his mother had recently died.

So we were visiting from L.A. and that was a fortune cookie that, we were having Chinese food that evening.

And so that fortune made its way into my journal, and two years later, it became the source material for a ruby red neon that I created for this Creative Time's, I think, 1992, 42nd Street art projects.

>> BOWEN: Well, it strikes me as an apt title as well, because, "Our First and Last Love," going back to my first question, we see you looking back at your younger self throughout this exhibition and in the shadow boxes, we see your history, photographs, notes, pieces of you, even in one instance.

What is the conversation you're having with yourself?

>> Well, that's a good question.

It is true that there is a strong autobiographical or self-citational aspect to the work.

Without question, the works definitely speak to the period of this particular time that we actually live in.

So there are references to popular culture, various historical moments throughout history, etc.

So I think in a way that they definitely use the self, if you will, to go through a series of experiments to really talk about us, our collective lives and histories, but also references art history, etc.

So clearly an autobiographical sense, but without question, engaging with both social and art history.

>> BOWEN: Well, that makes me wonder in, in the self-portraiture that we see where you're assuming different identities, is that equally as much about you as you looking at our collective society in that moment?

Or are those more about you?

>> Very good question, there's one image in particular I would highlight and I'd say Michael Stewart, which is a work from 1994.

As you know, Michael Stewart was killed by New York's police in the train station.

Although it is a portrait of me wearing a police uniform, it's more about an exorcism, it's, in a way, it's art as way to somehow bring up both social and cultural issues.

So again, I don't see it necessarily about me per se, but the idea of the sacrificial, what does it mean, as the late, great poet, my friend Essex Hemphill said, they use a body as a canvas, if you will, to explore issues.

Now, the Boston community has an opportunity to see the work of, say, Michael Stewart in the flesh, so to speak.

>> BOWEN: Well, you're talking about the power of photography and what it represents and how visceral it can be for people.

I'm struck by, again, going back to your history, your grandfather and his love and prowess with photography and how that has filtered down.

What did you take away from what your grandfather did?

>> Very good question.

My grandfather was an economist at the Port Authority, but as you know, he shot over 10,000 slides, Ektachrome to be exact, over a period of, let's say, let's say, four decades, you know, starting in the late '50s, and documenting his friends, family, community, etc.

Both my brother and I-- my brother's a filmmaker, award-winning filmmaker, Thomas Allen Harris, has mined that archive.

In fact, my brother's films Through the Lens Darkly, about Black photography, has mined that work as well as my first show, "The Good Life," where I juxtapose images my grandfather had taken of the community with contemporary images.

So it is fascinating me around-- it's fascinating to me how these family archives and the way that bell hooks talks about within segregated South, all that was from the North, the fact that it's within these repositories of the family, that Black culture got to be preserved, if you will.

So I think in a way that archive of my grandfather's gives sort of a narrative history, but also allows us to join the past as we imagine the future.

>> BOWEN: Stay with family for a moment.

There's one photograph of you and your brother in the show.

>> Yes, Brotherhood Crossroads, etc., from 1994 as well.

>> BOWEN: There's a lot to experience in that photograph.

>> Well, tell us about it.

>> BOWEN: I knew-- for some reason, I had a feeling that you would put it back on me.

On first viewing it looks, this, this purity of love.

>> Mm-hm.

>> BOWEN: And then you understand it's two brothers.

>> Yes.

Well, I mean, to describe the photograph, it's from The Good Life from 1994, my first New York gallery show.

The whole gallery exhibition was based on Marcus Garvey's UNIA tricolor flag.

Most people date the red, black and green flag to the '70s, but it was actually accepted by Marcus Garvey as the official flag for the Black race in the, 1917, I believe.

Around the time I was working that project, there was an editorial in the New York Times by the great Alice Walker, who spoke about the Black Panthers and the difficulties it was in terms of men to love other men.

So not in the sense of being queer, but the idea of the homosocial, and so that it was easier for one man to annihilate another as opposed to see that they shared common themes of love, brotherhood, etcetera.

So that photograph speaks to that in the way that we are exchanging, let's say, a kiss again.

It's about two brothers who are sacrificially trying to explore these issues against the backdrop of the UNIA flag.

The photograph has been written about, cover of books, or the artist or historical dissertations at Harvard, Yale, Cambridge-- wherever, the photograph is highly cited.

But it is interesting, as it-- the potency of what does it mean for two men, two brothers, to be exchanging a kiss, but also the exchange of the penetration of the gun, which has its echoes in Cain and Abel if you think biblically, or Caravaggio, if you think about the Doubting Thomas.

I'm interested in all those, the configuration of all those elements coming together and distilled within one image and the potency of that to elicit, if you will, conversation as well as dissertations.

>> BOWEN: Well, as you've echoed for me, I have been thinking about it nonstop, the whole show.

This is-- we barely scratched the surface here, but people need to spend so much time with it, there is so much to absorb, thank you for your time today.

>> Well, thank you so much, it's a pleasure being here.

♪ ♪ >> BOWEN: Next, as we head into President’s Day weekend, we take another look at the Obama portraits, which made their way to the Museum of Fine Arts last October during a national tour.

>> To me, it is historical.

It's groundbreaking.

I love the contemporary perspective, but also bringing in the history and what is important to the president.

I like the flowers that are represented in it, the natural environment, and just a different take than what we think of portraits.

There's this long history of photography and photographs excluding the African American experience.

Frederick Douglass, I think, was one of the first to get his portraits done and to be staring right into the camera.

To see the president staring right out front, and the first lady, Michelle Obama, looking straight out front, it's powerful.

>> I feel like the representation of Michelle doesn't get across her warmth and kind of her accessibility, even though I know that's what the artist, Amy Sherald, was looking to portray.

But it doesn't show her humanity as much as I wish it did.

The portrait of Barack Obama is more...

It feels like he's really looking at you, wanting to know what you're thinking.

>> I love the technique, the, the grays that the artist used to depict her, and I really, really love them.

>> Yeah, the photorealism was pretty cool, the background kind of sticking over Barack's picture was really pretty neat.

And the colors were just so vibrant.

In contrast to each other, it's pretty cool, too, to see the two different techniques, two different styles.

Just completely different.

>> They're beautiful.

They're absolutely beautiful.

They're, like, chilling.

I got goosebumps.

Kehinde Wiley is a phenomenal painter, obviously.

Like, his work is absolutely beautiful.

And Amy, as well.

I think she captured Michelle Obama beautifully.

>> Seeing these pictures up close was just amazing.

I didn't think that it was going to look the way that it did, nor did I realize the size difference, you know, on your phone versus in person.

>> I remember the portraits coming out and I remember people liking the one of Michelle less.

And so the choice to kind of make her in the tradition of formal portraiture, which is a little bit more, like, "I am powerful and I am a little bit removed," is, like, disjoint with our public image of her.

But it's absolutely in the tradition of powerful leaders, right, of which Michelle is obviously one, as well.

>> His face is so strong and he's so open, with his collar open and leaning into the picture.

And I walked around and his eye contact was with me the whole way.

I really felt that he drew me in to really listening and communication in a strong and compassionate way.

And I loved it that such a strong person could sit in a floral arrangement representing all the places that he had lived.

>> (chuckling, voice breaking): I wanted to cry.

(sniffles) He's... incredible president.

And for me, who has a daughter who dreams big, to see the president and first lady dream big and share that dream with everyone...

They never give up.

They never divide.

And they're always, like, "Come on for pride and inspire."

>> Oh, literally, when I walked in, I got chills.

I felt very proud.

The first thing I said was, "Oh, my God, this is so dope, "um, seeing Black people represented in this way and in such a great museum as this."

And, like, people paying money to come in and see this, and, like, the elevation of Black art that we've seen in the last few years has been something that I hope will continue the trajectory.

>> Happy.

There is a joy to them.

I was in tears when he won the election the first time, let alone the second time.

And that same kind of joy definitely comes through in paintings.

Same, same feeling.

>> It's nice to see someone being different, right?

Like, it's not the traditional, stuffy picture.

So it's, it's just a little bit of awe and a little bit of pride in seeing things evolve and being different.

>> When I started reading the notes on leadership and just reflecting on what I'm looking at, I've got tears in my eyes, because I think that, as a Black woman in America, it's hard, you know.

And to see these influences and these leaders, you know, portrayed in this way is beautiful.

♪ ♪ >> BOWEN: Finally we continue our Black History Month coverage with Step Afrika!, the dance company that blends percussive dance styles practiced by historically African-American fraternities and sororities, with traditional African dance.

We bring you a conversation I had last October with C. Ryan Williams, founder and executive producer of Step Afrika!

I caught up with him in Boston when the company's production of Drumfolk was presented by ArtsEmerson.

(performers chanting, drums beating) C. Brian Williams, thank you so much for being with us.

>> Thank you, thank you, and you can just call me Brian.

>> BOWEN: Well, tell, tell me how this dance first came to resonate with you.

>> Well, stepping is a really unique art form.

And Step Afrika!

is the first professional company in the world dedicated to this tradition.

I first learned how to step, uh, on, on the campus of Howard University in 1989.

("Remember the Time" by Michael Jackson playing) The only way to access the tradition is if you joined a fraternity, a historically Black fraternity or sorority.

>> BOWEN: I'm curious about your knowing of it, knowing that it wasn't so public.

So did you know of it and you sought it out?

What was... How public was it?

>> You know, that's a really good question, because I didn't know a lot about stepping before I got to Howard University.

I'd never actually even seen the art form practiced.

Most Americans still have not been introduced to the tradition of stepping, because for most of its existence, it has been in a, a part of a closed community.

>> BOWEN: How did it come to being and why was it closed?

>> When African Americans first began to attend colleges, majority White colleges at the time, they weren't allowed to be fully integrated into student life.

So they created their own fraternities and sororities.

And these places, these frats and sororities, were safe places for students during these, you know, very volatile times in American history.

They decided to express themselves in a very uniquely African way when they chose to demonstrate their love and pride to a broader community.

They began to sing songs, do movements in a line or a circle, and this, these movements and practices grew into what we now know as the art form of stepping.

(rhythm pounding, performers chanting) And so our newest production, Drumfolk, goes even deeper into why we step in the first place.

And we found some fascinating things in that process.

>> BOWEN: How much is it about the, the body and what the body can do and express?

>> Stepping for me is about the body becoming the drum.

But the real question for me was, why did we have to use the body as a drum?

Why didn't we just play the drum?

At what point in the African American experience did we start to use the body as a drum?

And that's what led us to the Stono Rebellion of 1739 and the Negro Act of 1740.

Both of these events are what our latest production, Drumfolk, is and are based on.

>> BOWEN: What happened in 1739?

>> Well, it's a wild time in American history.

It's 1739 in South Carolina.

The institution of slavery is alive and well, sadly.

And Africans are fighting against the tradition, they're rejecting the injustice that slavery was.

So they lead a rebellion.

Word has it that they, they used their drums as a way to call others to fight.

They became very concerned that the drum and that the, and then African people were going to resist even further.

So they passed a set of laws, later became known as the Negro Act of 1740, that took away the right for Africans to use the drum.

And for us, once the drum has disappeared from African people, the body and other instruments become the drum.

>> BOWEN: So you have been immersed in this for almost 30 years.

>> Yeah.

>> BOWEN: And to have this new history, how does that inform you?

>> Oh, so it's exciting for me.

It's so exciting, because it's like, it reminds you about how many stories we still don't know.

And for me in particular, as an African American, how African American culture developed here, and what are some of the clues that we can discover along the way?

>> BOWEN: So then you go to Africa, and you spend time there.

>> Yeah.

>> BOWEN: And you see the art form, not the same art form, but the art of dance there.

How did you make the connection?

>> The year after I graduated from Howard University in Washington, D.C., I went to Southern Africa to live and study.

And it's there that I became, was introduced to traditional South African forms and dance styles that were really inspiring and very exciting to me.

One in particular was the South African gumboot dance.

>> (shouts out) >> So I saw this dance, it's created by men who worked in the mines of South Africa.

And it's also percussive.

The drum is absent.

The men are using their hands and their feet to make music.

So it's strikingly similar to stepping, but I had never heard of the form.

And, likewise, they had also never heard of stepping.

So the idea was to bring the two art forms together, stepping meet the South African gumboot dance, hence the name Step Afrika!

>> BOWEN: And what does it mean for you to do it today?

>> You know, today it's about preserving and promoting the art form.

You know, Step Afrika!

is here as one of the largest African American dance companies in the world today.

We're here to preserve and promote this uniquely American art form.

The performance for me basically goes all the way from 1739 to today, and audiences will see the evolution of a form, really, in this performance.

>> BOWEN: How key is the audience?

In many, in many performance venues, the audience is passive.

Is that the case here?

>> Well, as soon as Step Afrika!

hits the stage, we are looking to connect and engage the audience.

I mean, we really want the audience to feel free to make music, to talk, to share, to yell, to scream.

I don't care what they do with the artists.

>> BOWEN: How were the Obamas as an audience?

You were at the White House.

>> We were the featured performer at Obama's Black History Month reception.

Performing in the White House was an honor, but I also love going all across our country, sharing this art form with all Americans.

>> BOWEN: Well, speaking of all Americans, I wonder what it was like to bring men and women together, because it started in sororities and fraternities, not together.

>> I don't know if you've seen School Daze, when... >> BOWEN: Spike Lee.

>> Spike Lee.

>> Introducing the first of all Black Greeks, the men of distinction, the brothers of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Incorporated.

>> When that movie came out, it really introduced fraternity and sorority life to a broad swath of American culture, of Americans.

And you started to see the art form of stepping then being introduced in high schools, and middle schools, and elementary schools, and kind of step teams sprouted all around the country.

So I actually love that, because what it means is that the art form has grown.

>> BOWEN: I don't think I've ever had the opportunity to ask an artist about something that is, about an art form that is so new.

>> Mm-hmm.

>> BOWEN: And here you are, you're preserving it, you're curating it.

You're, you're taking care of it.

>> That's what this 29-, 30-year journey has been about.

Exploring the art form and determining... You know, we've merged stepping with symphonies, with rock music, with Appalachian clogging, Irish step dancing, with Israeli folk dance, with traditional African dances from all over-- from Tanzania, to West Africa, to really everywhere in the world.

We just got back from Bolivia, collaborating with Indigenous culture there.

So we are really...

The art form to us is a way to connect and create, and that's what's motivated us all these years.

>> BOWEN: Well, Brian, thank you so much.

It's been such a pleasure to be with you.

>> Thank you, thank you for your questions.

And thank you for the interview.

♪ ♪ >> BOWEN: And that is all for this edition of Open Studio.

Next week, make way for the creative team behind Make Way for Ducklings: The Musical.

You can always visit us online at GBH.org/OpenStudio.

And you can see us first on YouTube.com/GBHNews.

Remember to follow us on Instagram and Twitter @OpenStudioGBH.

I'm @TheJaredBowen.

We hope to see you here next week.

Until then, I'm Jared Bowen, thanks for joining us.

Every Friday, Jim Braude and Margery Eagan offer up live performances on Boston Public Radio.

So we leave you now hip-hop artist Paul Willis, who performed in the inaugural Dorch Fest music festival.

>> ♪ I went from Jamaica Plain all the way to Bodega Bay ♪ ♪ Things were straight from 1987 to '98 ♪ ♪ Then the hits came, and ish changed with the quickness ♪ ♪ When I was 12, my grandma's diagnosed with a sickness ♪ ♪ See books is black and white, my school was Black and white ♪ ♪ One of 13 Blacks, who could bridge that divide?

♪ ♪ No disrespect ♪ ♪ My friends were upper middle class with intellect ♪ ♪ Stuntin' in class 'cause being street was easy to expect ♪ ♪ Black but not hood enough, smart but not good enough ♪ ♪ Leader 'cause I've lost so much that I could erupt ♪ ♪ It's only a matter of time 'fore I was out of my mind ♪ ♪ Every summer was reckless ♪ ♪ My mom was out of a job, brothers in and out the house ♪ ♪ Some were friends, others foes ♪ ♪ Squares tried to keep me boxing ♪ ♪ I stay on my toes praying to the Lord ♪ ♪ Is this my ceiling or my floor?

♪ ♪ Can't open a next door until the last ones close ♪ ♪ Because this is straight from my book of rhymes ♪ ♪ My book of rhymes ♪ ♪ This is straight from my book of rhymes ♪ ♪ My book of rhymes ♪ ♪ This is straight from my book of rhymes ♪ ♪ My book of rhymes ♪ ♪ This is straight from my book or rhymes ♪ ♪ My book of rhymes ♪ ♪ I almost drowned when I was seven ♪ ♪ I heard the waves that change the ships ♪ ♪ Belly of the beast, I was losing it ♪ ♪ Grandma sacrificed, hospital nights was a crucifix ♪ ♪ My mom was sacrificed by her dad on some voodoo sh... ♪ ♪ It seems like the dark runs in the family ♪ ♪ Veins suffocate my blood clot when you hang with me ♪ ♪ Stick and move, kick the kitchen stool, witch's brew ♪ ♪ I got miles to go before I sleep comfortable ♪ ♪ Still, I have no fear ♪ ♪ Should've been dead but it is so clear ♪ ♪ There's something more that's meant for me ♪ ♪ Than what I know here ♪ ♪ I watched the sun grow into Apollo ♪ ♪ Just because you claim to be a leader ♪ ♪ Doesn't mean I will follow ♪ ♪ Dream stuck in between a couple ounces in a bottle ♪ ♪ Barely hanging on now-- well, what I care about tomorrow ♪ ♪ 'Cause I lit my future bright with a past full of sorrow ♪ ♪ I hope I can fill what's been hollow ♪ ♪ Because this is straight from my book of rhymes ♪ ♪ My book of rhymes ♪ ♪ This is straight from my book of rhymes ♪ ♪ My book of rhymes ♪ ♪ This is straight from my book of rhymes ♪ ♪ My book of rhymes ♪ ♪ This is straight from my book of rhymes ♪ ♪ My book of rhymes ♪ ♪ Now the green awaits ♪ ♪ Couldn't sleep away those dream of days ♪ ♪ You couldn't ride through Bromley Heath ♪ ♪ Without a key to stay ♪ ♪ Summer heat ablaze ♪ ♪ My OG has kept they beef away ♪ ♪ From the kids who couldn't claim ♪ ♪ The corners they patrolled ♪ ♪ How to move through cliques trying to crack the code ♪ ♪ No one knew where I live, see, that was tactical ♪ ♪ I'm practically an anomaly, actual dramatic comedy ♪ ♪ Miracle I made it out based on my geography ♪ ♪ Constantly going back I know my hood is proud of me ♪ ♪ Even when we once weren't free and not allowed to be ♪ ♪ See, the murals are coming down ♪ ♪ And Hi-Lo became Whole Foods ♪ ♪ I used to know all of my neighbors ♪ ♪ And now I have no clue ♪ ♪ Like the scar next to my left eye ♪ ♪ I couldn't see this coming ♪ ♪ Fighting to survive, they hated Black kids busing ♪ ♪ Ain't it something?

♪ ♪ My grandma owned a house when the neighborhood was Jewish ♪ ♪ Now I can't recognize it as I walk through it ♪ ♪ So this is straight from my book of rhymes ♪ ♪ My book of rhymes ♪ ♪ This is straight from my book of rhymes ♪ ♪ My book of rhymes ♪ ♪ This is straight from my book of rhymes ♪ ♪ My book of rhymes ♪ ♪ This is straight from my book of rhymes ♪ ♪ My book of rhymes ♪ ♪ Now I'm a rebel without a cause ♪ ♪ Eleven in my catalog ♪ ♪ I invest so I bet on me, that's what I can afford ♪ ♪ And the people love it, they applaud of their own accord ♪ ♪ Can't write me off while I chart my course ♪ ♪ And no, I haven't made it yet dream big ♪ ♪ The craziest futurist debate of best playing safe ♪ ♪ Ain't the safest bet but underestimated ♪ ♪ To losses when I played my best ♪ ♪ But no regrets, this all part of the test ♪ ♪ Life blessed me with a gift I'm very diplomatic ♪ ♪ Also, I counted every punch ♪ ♪ With jabs and hooks to the torso ♪ ♪ I've seen the best in life ♪ ♪ Because I know it when it's awful ♪ ♪ I'm not Black Thought, I'm thoughtful ♪ ♪ Wishing you were more so ♪ ♪ Lyrics like hieroglyphics were written in the source code ♪ ♪ My hope is the music brings you peace in your war zone ♪