Naomi Harris: EUSA | LENSCRATCH

It’s hard for me not to love Naomi Harris’ photographs. A medium format film camera, a flash, a sense of humor, a sense of adventure, a global perspective, intelligence, and a really nice person all combines into a party that I want to attend. Her new series, EUSA, takes a look at the globalization of nationalities, where people in Europe are celebrating the American West, and people in the United States are celebrating various European traditions. Naomi visited over two dozen American-themed places in Europe and European-themed places in America providing a humorous look at our desire to feel part of a culture not our own.  As Naomi states, “These exaggerated reconstructions bear little authenticity and rather are a perception of fantasy, a sense of what the other wishes the reality to be. And through this spirit of camaraderie, if only for that moment, the participants are granted membership to another’s culture.”