Thomas Ellis was a studio photographer working in Harlem and the South Bronx during the 1950s. Operating a small portrait studio with his wife, he documented intimate moments of family and community life, creating a rich archive of black-and-white images. His work combined technical skill with a keen sense of narrative, capturing everyday interactions and the social dynamics of his neighborhoods with both precision and emotional depth. Though his life was tragically cut short in 1958, just before the birth of his son Darrel Ellis, Thomas’s photographic archive endured as a lasting testament to mid-20th-century African American life in New York. In 1981, Darrel discovered these negatives, which became a crucial source of inspiration for his own artistic practice. Drawing from the archive, Darrel translated the images into photography, painting, collage, sculpture, and printmaking, engaging directly with the legacy of a father he never met. Through this process, Thomas Ellis’s work not only preserves memory and personal histories but also continues to resonate, shaping and informing the creative explorations of subsequent generations. ...
