Untitled, from the Harlem series

Shawn Walker was one of the original members of the Kamoinge Workshop, a collective of Black art photographers formed in New York City in 1963. He has lived in Harlem all his life. His work is unusual amongst the Johnson’s holdings of twentieth-century New York City street photography in that it expresses a personal vision rooted in community knowledge and activist politics.

This striking portrait dates from early in Walker’s career. Walker has often photographed children, but this image is of a rare gravitas. The close cropping directs our attention immediately to the face and particularly the eyes of this serious looking child. Only after a beat do we take in the knitted winter hood and layers of clothing, and particularly the coat with its escaping threads—details that suggest the child’s vulnerability despite his self-possessed expression and compel feelings of tenderness toward this young Harlem resident.