Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.
–Oscar Wilde
Zatara Press has just released a new monograph from the indefatigable photographer Harvey Stein. The book, Then and There: Mardi Gras 1979 is a Polaroid celebration of French Quarter high jinx during Mardi Gras in New Orleans. Harvey has a long legacy of street photography that extends from Coney Island to Mexico and his photographs reveal the human experience in glorious black and white tableaux. For this work, he shifts to Polaroid capture in brilliant color that perfectly echoes the costume and pagentry of the event.
Harvey Stein has had a wide-ranging career as an engaged photographer working in the documentary tradition, utilizing the medium to create photographs that capture the spirit and vitality of the people and places he depicts. His prime focus is to relate to his fellow human beings in intense and close-up images. Through enduring documentary investigations of groups as varied as identical twins, Coney Island people, the street life of Harlem, artists in their studios, people living with AIDS, and life and death in Mexico, his projects have resulted in compelling and evocative in-depth photobooks that help illuminate the human condition and reveal his commitment to building connections through photography. Among Stein’s nine published books are Parallels: A Look at Twins (1978), Coney Island 40 Years (2011), and Mexico Between Life and Death (2018). Stein’s photographs are in over 60 museum and corporate collections; he has had 88 one-person exhibits. He currently teaches at the International Center of Photography in New York City and conducts workshops worldwide. His website is harveysteinphoto.com; Instagram @stein.harvey.
