With a camera in hand, the program’s sixteen young photographers move through their city in ways they haven’t before, bringing viewers into the transient nature of their day-to-day lives as they traverse—and consider—the vastness of New York City. The photographs in the online exhibition gesture toward the participants’ relationship with adolescence and place, and how they find themselves in the quiet moments of the city and its outskirts—along the water and on the streets.

Something in the Water: Expanding the Walls 2024 is organized by Jayson Overby, Assistant Curator, Studio Museum in Harlem; with Ally Caple, Expanding the Walls Coordinator, Studio Museum in Harlem; and the Expanding the Walls 2024 participants.

Founded in 2001, Expanding the Walls supports the photographic practices of teenage artists based in New York City through workshops, gallery visits, and discussions led by contemporary artists. For over twenty years, the archive of renowned Harlem photographer James Van Der Zee (1886–1983) has been the program’s central inspiration. Over the course of the free eight-month program, the young artists also engage with the work of photographers such as Dawoud Bey, LaToya Ruby Frazier, Texas Isaiah, Ming Smith, and Carrie Mae Weems. These artists, alongside Van Der Zee, provide a rich intergenerational dialogue in which the teens can situate their work and practices.

Expanding the Walls and youth programs are made possible with support from the Keith Haring Foundation Education Fund; Joy of Giving Something; Phillip and Edith Leonian Foundation; Richard Pousette-Dart Foundation; Hearst Endowment Fund; and by the Jacob and Gwendolyn Lawrence Trust. The Studio Museum in Harlem’s Learning and Engagement programs are supported by the Thompson Foundation Education Fund; Cornelia T. Bailey Foundation; May and Samuel Rudin Family Foundation. Additional support provided by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and New York State Council on the Arts. The Studio Museum in Harlem is deeply grateful for Donna Van Der Zee’s continued support of Expanding the Walls.