{"id":53789,"date":"2025-01-30T22:59:03","date_gmt":"2025-01-31T03:59:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=53789"},"modified":"2025-01-30T22:59:38","modified_gmt":"2025-01-31T03:59:38","slug":"photographer-nabil-harb-invites-people-to-view-central-florida-as-he-does","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2025\/01\/30\/photographer-nabil-harb-invites-people-to-view-central-florida-as-he-does\/","title":{"rendered":"Photographer Nabil Harb invites people to view central Florida as he does"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

From drag queens to trucks, Nabil Harb\u2019s hometown of Lakeland, Florida, is a place he doesn\u2019t want to leave. His knowledge and connection to the area\u2019s land and its communities have made central Florida his photography\u2019s focus.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cThere\u2019s this kind of tension between the levels of narrative that can occur here,\u201d Harb said. \u201cAnd maybe that depends on who you are and what you bring to it, for me it\u2019s Polk County and I know it so well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nabil Harb\u2019s exhibit, \u201cMater si, magistra no<\/a>,\u201d is currently on display at Light Work until April 25. The exhibit is a culmination of various works in Polk County, Florida, including scenes of both nature and the various communities Harb grew up around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harb also teaches at Florida Southern College, sharing the lessons he\u2019s learned when viewing the world through photography. Even though he\u2019s their professor, his students bring in their own perspectives on using photography to share a narrative, which he learns from.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen I\u2019m giving them a camera, I\u2019m not telling them what to do with that camera except to explore their own interests,\u201d Harb said. \u201cWe all have something to share.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harb shoots his photos digitally in black and white, with most works depicting the raw, fragile landscape of Polk County. Through his frequent use of flash photography, Harb desires to tell a story about central Florida as he sees it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though the region\u2019s land and creatures are constantly changing, some places always feel the same to Harb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For years, Harb has weaved his way around the bar and backstage of The Parrot, a LGBTQ+ nightclub he frequently shoots photos at. As a gay man, he\u2019s talked with people about their experiences in Lakeland, specifically during the HIV\/AIDS crisis in Polk County<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using a strobe of light, Harb captures a host of warm human interactions and raw moments in his time photographing at the club. Through this tactic, Harb can look at the before and after of intimate moments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen you spend time in a place like that, you fold into the fabric of it,\u201d Harb said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harb started photographing at The Parrot the year after the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando<\/a>. It was a terrifying and personal time for him, especially since he was only an hour away from the shooting. Harb decided he wanted to focus on the LGBTQ+ community in Florida after the tragedy, and what the nightclub culture meant to the community. From The Parrot, Harb began to photograph the rest of Polk County, eventually focusing on more of central Florida.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Much of Nabil Harb\u2019s work is inspired by his identities and hometown of Lakeland, Florida. Growing up, Harb was rarely surrounded by identities similar to his own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While lots of Harb\u2019s friends had family roots in Polk County, he\u2019s a first generation resident. Harb\u2019s parents immigrated from Palestine and his family is Muslim. His left-leaning political opinions, religion and sexuality weren\u2019t always common among those around him while growing up. Harb called growing up in Lakeland \u201ca textured experience,\u201d but he appreciates the rural lifestyle, like seeing the cows behind his house.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When he started taking photos, Harb didn\u2019t think much about how his identity as a gay, Palestinian-American would influence his work. He was just reacting to the world with his camera.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But a Yale professor from Harb\u2019s time getting his photography master\u2019s degree told him that if you\u2019re really connected with your practice, the things you care about will show up, regardless of whether or not you want it to. That stuck with Harb, and he began to feel that in his photography.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harb\u2019s web of supporters, including his friend and former Yale classmate Alex Nelson, agree that he\u2019s very intentional and detail-oriented in his practice. Harb shared with her how he uses matte paper for his photographs instead of something more glossy, because it allows the dark points in his photos to suck light in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two met during the interview round of the application process at Yale. In their second year at the university, Nelson collaborated with Harb on a video piece. She said he\u2019s one of the most hardworking and dedicated people she\u2019s ever met.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen he\u2019s interested in portraying something, he really sinks his teeth into it and commits fully to the idea,\u201d Nelson said. \u201cWhether that means getting access to an old prison or getting into a helicopter to get an aerial shot of a landscape in Florida.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The land in central Florida is untamed. Harb said it\u2019s subversive in its own way, because it\u2019s always going to do what it wants. He can take a photo of the land in Lakeland and relate it back to his own identity as a gay man, even if central Florida doesn\u2019t conjure up that image for most people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s something inherently a bit queer about the environment, the way it grows, it\u2019s sticky, it\u2019s humid, it holds you,\u201d Harb said.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Location and landscape are integral to the messaging of Harb\u2019s photography. It\u2019s infinite to him. He appreciates the world that already exists, but also the one he\u2019s constructed through his photography.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI can\u2019t help but think that my engagement with the landscape and honing in on it is something that comes from this fear of things changing,\u201d Harb said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harb was getting his bachelor\u2019s degree in anthropology from the University of South Florida when he started thinking about who was telling the stories of places like Polk County and the rest of central Florida. He decided he wanted to be one of these storytellers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Part of that story is the ever-changing landscape of central Florida. A photo Harb took of a sinkhole is, environmentally, not the greatest sign. But he uses his camera lens to look and respond more deeply to these things. The land\u2019s resistance tells its own narrative about human interaction with it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nabil Harb uses his camera to capture the developing landscape of central Florida. The land\u2019s resistance tells its own narrative about human interaction with it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Similarly, a photo in the exhibit depicts a defunct army tank, with three massive, discolored tires and a hand reaching for a lighter Harb\u2019s friend dropped underneath it. He said photographing the barely visible lighter juxtaposed under the immense tank reminded him of a \u201cgrenade under a tank.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harb uses his local sphere to think through things happening globally, like environmental changes and other large-scale conflicts, like the genocide in Gaza, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s kind of this funny little thing that happens, where it took me out of Polk County, to these global narratives,\u201d Harb said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other scenes in his photos reflect parts of his daily life, like observations from years of driving down the same road. In the photo \u201cNight Horizon\u201d (2021)<\/a>, Harb photographed where the road intersects with streetlights at the sky\u2019s horizon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s kind of like those little mental things you do when you\u2019re used to a place or you know to expect something,\u201d Harb said. \u201cSometimes it feels like you can drive to the grocery store with your eyes closed because you know how long, it\u2019s just these instinctual things.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kyna Patel, Harb\u2019s longtime friend since first grade, grew up taking her own photos in Lakeland while watching Harb begin to experiment with his interests in photography, especially after they graduated high school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat work is born out of a love of the community that we both grew up in and also the queer community in central Florida,\u201d Patel said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harb took a break between high school and undergrad \u2014 he moved to Boston for a year and worked in fashion in New York City. Patel had the privilege of watching Harb\u2019s growth through all those years, saying the gap he allowed himself to have between high school and undergraduate study was really instrumental for him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During this time, Harb could hone the structure of his work, which allowed Patel to see the trajectory and language of his photography play out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe\u2019s able to show me things that I also see and find interesting, but he\u2019s able to explain why it\u2019s interesting in a way that I find fascinating,\u201d Patel said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Creating the exhibit for Light Work was a way for Harb to put together multiple aspects of his work, both the drag queens and the sinkholes, into one utterance about Polk County and how he feels about living there, he said. It tells a more holistic story of Lakeland and Harb\u2019s experiences living and growing up there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important to see the world and approach the world with questions, with a camera in your hand,\u201d Harb said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From drag queens to trucks, Nabil Harb\u2019s hometown of Lakeland, Florida, is a place he doesn\u2019t want to leave. His knowledge and connection to the area\u2019s land and its communities… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":53790,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"9","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNVwvMDFcL2NhMl9lbWJlZF9JTUdfNDUzMS53ZWJwP2ZpdD04NTQlMkMxMDI0JnNzbD0xIiwidHh0IjoiUGhvdG9ncmFwaGVyIE5hYmlsIEhhcmIgaW52aXRlcyBwZW9wbGUgdG8gdmlldyBjZW50cmFsIEZsb3JpZGEgYXMgaGUgZG9lcyIsInRlbXBsYXRlIjoiaGlnaHdheSIsImJsb2dfaWQiOjE2MzA0MDY2MX0.WTKVcXj_Mn-iE7g3eulHvMfR3g12FoxuSxfaie5OOKIMQ"},"version":2,"attached_media":[{"id":53790,"url":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/ca2_embed_IMG_4531.webp","type":"image\/jpeg"}]},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[9],"tags":[10868],"class_list":["post-53789","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","tag-photographer-nabil-harb-invites-people-to-view-central-florida-as-he-does"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53789","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53789"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53789\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53792,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53789\/revisions\/53792"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}