Acquired for the Walker’s Ruben/Bentson Moving Image Collection, Christopher Harris’s 16mm film still/here is a study of the decaying urban landscapes of North St. Louis, where Harris was born and raised. With long, static takes of disregarded spaces, forced into disrepair by generations of redlining, Jim Crow laws, and other forms of systemic racism throughout the United States, the film meditates on the complex, nuanced history of the specific neighborhoods Harris films in; meanwhile it draws formal inspiration from the compositional strategies of musicians such as Miles Davis. 2000, USA, DCP, 60 min.

For this screening at the Walker, Harris was joined by artist Kahlil Robert Irving, whose exhibition at the Walker, Archaeology of the Present, used sculpture to dwell on similar themes of history and memory in the landscape of St. Louis.