Curatorial Statement

Under One Sky: Reflecting Immigrant Communities, The Photographs of Harvey Finkle, 1982-2018 showcases 36 years of Harvey Finkle’s photographic work. The exhibition comprises more than 80 photographs capturing immigrant communities in Philadelphia, especially the many that have come to call South Philadelphia home. This exhibition—the most extensive retrospective of Finkle’s photographs to date—comes at an important time when immigrant communities across the United States are experiencing a rise in attacks and violence, a xenophobic backlash particularly targeting Asian and Pacific Islander communities. 

Finkle’s photographic career spans more than five decades, primarily as a documentary still photographer concerned with social, political, and cultural issues. In many instances, the subjects featured in his photographs choose to go on about their activities as if the photographer was not present – although they were perhaps aware of him. In others, the subject is very much aware of the photographer’s gaze. This mutual trust between photographer and subject is a result of Finkle’s respect for each individual as well as their respective cultures and communities, imbuing his work with the immediacy and authenticity of photojournalism.

A curatorial challenge presented itself in thinking about how to best display such a wide array of photographs, which document 17 separate immigrant communities living in North, South and West Philadelphia, including: Afghan, Bhutanese (Nepalese), Cambodian, Ethiopian, Guatemalan, Hmong, Indian, Indonesian, Jamaican, Laotian, Lebanese, Liberian, Mexican, People from Burma, Peruvian, Sierra Leonese, and Vietnamese. It was clear to me from the beginning that I did not want to separate the groups by country of origin and/or ethnicity, but rather present them through a thematic arrangement that captured people engaged in the rituals of daily life. This approach endeavors to place different communities within the larger context of our everyday lives, reinforcing our similarities as human beings instead of our differences. 

After all, race, class, ethnicity, and religion are social constructs from which some benefit at the expense of others, and it is that “othering” which lies at the heart of prejudice and bigotry. The range of community celebrations, religious observances, instances of political advocacy, protests, rites of passage, dance, and play captured in these photographs present the common thread that unites us as Americans, as families, as communities, and as humans. To paraphrase a quote by the Roman orator Quintus Aurelius Symmanchus, “We gaze up at the same stars, one sky covers us all, the same universe encompasses us.”

David Acosta

Curator