Uploaded June 2022 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
Andell Family Sundays Anytime is thrilled to present Mandalas of My Life written and performed by acclaimed poet Peter J. Harris. Inspired by Todd Gray's photograph Mirror, Mirror. Made especially parents, Harris weaves poetry, imagery, music and loving Black fatherhood in this beautiful video.
American Book Award-winning author Peter J. Harris, is the 2018 Los Angeles COLA Fellow in literary arts, Fellow of the Los Angeles Institute for the Humanities at USC, and award-winning poet, is the author of Bless the Ashes, poetry (Tia Chucha Press), winner of the 2015 PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Award, and The Black Man of Happiness: In Pursuit of My 'Unalienable Right,' a book of personal essays, winner of a 2015 American Book, and most recently, FlowerSong Press, Harris’ Safe Arms: 20 Love & Erotic Poems (w/an Ooh Baby Baby moan), with Spanish translations by Francisco Letelier.
Harris is founding director of The Black Man of Happiness Project, a creative, intellectual and artistic exploration of Black men and joy. Harris writes the blog WREAKING HAPPINESS: A Joyful Living Journal.
His 2018 TEDx Pasadena Talk with Adenike A. Harris, at Huntington Library, “Healing vs. Retaliation: Surviving Trauma and Sexual Abuse,” described and celebrated 15 years of working with his daughter after convicting and jailing her predator ex-stepfather.” Harris and his daughter are also contributors to Love WITH Accountability: Digging up the Roots of Child Sexual Abuse, edited by Aishah Shahidah Simmons (2019).
Since the 1970s, Harris has published his work in a wide variety of publications, including Wide Awake: Poets of Los Angeles and Beyond, edited by Suzanne Lummis; Altadena Poetry Anthologies for 2018 and 2019; and Coiled Serpent: Poets Arising from the Cultural Quakes & Shifts in Los Angeles, edited by Neelanjana Banerjee, Daniel A. Olivas, and Ruben J. Rodriguez. Since 1992, Harris has been a member of the Anansi Writers Workshop at the World Stage, in LA’s Leimert Park.
Photos by:
Adenike A. Harris
Melanie Gordon
Glenn Harris
Tiffany Judkins
Peter J. Harris
Courtesy Harris Family Archives
Cinematographer/camera: Tiffany Judkins
Music by: Curtis Robertson Jr
Illustrations and Mandalas by: Robin Strayhorn
Edited by: Katy Unger
Todd Gray, Mirror Mirror, 2014, archival pigment prints and found antique frames, 29 1/2 × 23 1/2 × 2 in., Los Angeles County Museum of Art, promised gift of the collection of Arthur Lewis and Hau Nguyen, © Todd Gray, digital image courtesy of the artist
Andell Family Sundays Anytime is supported by Andrew and Ellen Hauptman and The Hauptman Family Foundation. Outreach for Andell Family Sundays Anytime is made possible in part by Tally and Bill Mingst.
NexGenLA is supported by The Eisner Foundation.
All education and outreach programs at LACMA are underwritten by the LACMA Education Fund and are supported in part by The Yabuki Family Foundation, the William Randolph Hearst Endowment Fund for Arts Education, The Ralph M. Parsons Foundation, the Flora L. Thornton Foundation, Union Bank, The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Foundation, the Judy and Bernard Briskin Family Foundation, and Gloria Ricci Lothrop.
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About LACMA
Located on the Pacific Rim, LACMA is the largest art museum in the western United States, with a collection of nearly 140,000 objects that illuminate 6,000 years of artistic expression across the globe. Committed to showcasing a multitude of art histories, LACMA exhibits and interprets works of art from new and unexpected points of view that are informed by the region’s rich cultural heritage and diverse population. LACMA’s spirit of experimentation is reflected in its work with artists, technologists, and thought leaders as well as in its regional, national, and global partnerships to share collections and programs, create pioneering initiatives, and engage new audiences.
Connect with LACMA
Subscribe for our latest videos: lacma.org/videos
Explore our collection online: collections.lacma.org
Plan your visit to LACMA: lacma.org/visit
Support the museum and become a member: lacma.org/support
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Andell Family Sundays Anytime is thrilled to present Mandalas of My Life written and performed by acclaimed poet Peter J. Harris. Inspired by Todd Gray's photograph Mirror, Mirror. Made especially parents, Harris weaves poetry, imagery, music and loving Black fatherhood in this beautiful video.
American Book Award-winning author Peter J. Harris, is the 2018 Los Angeles COLA Fellow in literary arts, Fellow of the Los Angeles Institute for the Humanities at USC, and award-winning poet, is the author of Bless the Ashes, poetry (Tia Chucha Press), winner of the 2015 PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Award, and The Black Man of Happiness: In Pursuit of My 'Unalienable Right,' a book of personal essays, winner of a 2015 American Book, and most recently, FlowerSong Press, Harris’ Safe Arms: 20 Love & Erotic Poems (w/an Ooh Baby Baby moan), with Spanish translations by Francisco Letelier.
Harris is founding director of The Black Man of Happiness Project, a creative, intellectual and artistic exploration of Black men and joy. Harris writes the blog WREAKING HAPPINESS: A Joyful Living Journal.
His 2018 TEDx Pasadena Talk with Adenike A. Harris, at Huntington Library, “Healing vs. Retaliation: Surviving Trauma and Sexual Abuse,” described and celebrated 15 years of working with his daughter after convicting and jailing her predator ex-stepfather.” Harris and his daughter are also contributors to Love WITH Accountability: Digging up the Roots of Child Sexual Abuse, edited by Aishah Shahidah Simmons (2019).
Since the 1970s, Harris has published his work in a wide variety of publications, including Wide Awake: Poets of Los Angeles and Beyond, edited by Suzanne Lummis; Altadena Poetry Anthologies for 2018 and 2019; and Coiled Serpent: Poets Arising from the Cultural Quakes & Shifts in Los Angeles, edited by Neelanjana Banerjee, Daniel A. Olivas, and Ruben J. Rodriguez. Since 1992, Harris has been a member of the Anansi Writers Workshop at the World Stage, in LA’s Leimert Park.
Photos by:
Adenike A. Harris
Melanie Gordon
Glenn Harris
Tiffany Judkins
Peter J. Harris
Courtesy Harris Family Archives
Cinematographer/camera: Tiffany Judkins
Music by: Curtis Robertson Jr
Illustrations and Mandalas by: Robin Strayhorn
Edited by: Katy Unger
Todd Gray, Mirror Mirror, 2014, archival pigment prints and found antique frames, 29 1/2 × 23 1/2 × 2 in., Los Angeles County Museum of Art, promised gift of the collection of Arthur Lewis and Hau Nguyen, © Todd Gray, digital image courtesy of the artist
Andell Family Sundays Anytime is supported by Andrew and Ellen Hauptman and The Hauptman Family Foundation. Outreach for Andell Family Sundays Anytime is made possible in part by Tally and Bill Mingst.
NexGenLA is supported by The Eisner Foundation.
All education and outreach programs at LACMA are underwritten by the LACMA Education Fund and are supported in part by The Yabuki Family Foundation, the William Randolph Hearst Endowment Fund for Arts Education, The Ralph M. Parsons Foundation, the Flora L. Thornton Foundation, Union Bank, The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Foundation, the Judy and Bernard Briskin Family Foundation, and Gloria Ricci Lothrop.
---
About LACMA
Located on the Pacific Rim, LACMA is the largest art museum in the western United States, with a collection of nearly 140,000 objects that illuminate 6,000 years of artistic expression across the globe. Committed to showcasing a multitude of art histories, LACMA exhibits and interprets works of art from new and unexpected points of view that are informed by the region’s rich cultural heritage and diverse population. LACMA’s spirit of experimentation is reflected in its work with artists, technologists, and thought leaders as well as in its regional, national, and global partnerships to share collections and programs, create pioneering initiatives, and engage new audiences.
Connect with LACMA
Subscribe for our latest videos: lacma.org/videos
Explore our collection online: collections.lacma.org
Plan your visit to LACMA: lacma.org/visit
Support the museum and become a member: lacma.org/support
Follow us on social
Facebook: facebook.com/LACMA
Twitter: twitter.com/lacma
Tumblr: lacma.tumblr.com
Pinterest: pinterest.com/lacma
Instagram: instagram.com/lacma
