In this exquisitely beautiful children’s picture book, young readers are introduced to photographer Roy DeCarava, who was born in Harlem, New York, in 1919 to a Jamaican mother and an American father.
In this film about DeCarava’s life as an adult, author Gary Goriot and illustrator EB Lewis tell the story of a photographer who strolls the streets of Harlem after a day’s work and decides to capture the beauty of his neighborhood on film. It depicts “starving”. He takes a photo of a boy who is crawling on all fours on the sidewalk and drawing with chalk. An artist who sells paintings on the street. A woman taking a photo of her son with her small camera. Children play in the cooling spray of a fire hydrant. A young girl in a long white dress standing alone in the evening. more.
DeCarava “feels like Superman wherever he goes. Invisible rays come out of his eyes and scan everything around him. He sees something so beautiful. Everywhere. But. Does everyone have that power?
Short quotes that define DeCarava’s ideas about truth, beauty, and living complement Goriot’s insightful narrative and EB Lewis’s stunning watercolors. For example, DeCarava said: “It doesn’t have to be beautiful to be true, but if it’s true, it’s beautiful. Truth is beautiful.”
In his author’s note, Gary Goriot describes DeCarava’s mission in his own words: My photography is subjective and personal and aims to be accessible and relevant to people’s lives. …People, their well-being and survival are at the heart of what matters to me. ”
Everywhere Beauty is Harlem is a wonderful window into the life of a genius photographer who loved her community and never forgot her roots. This is moving evidence of how God’s world is filled with beauty that can be discovered by those who have eyes to see.
(Calkins Creek)