Barber Shops
Inspired by his grandfather, photographer Kip Harris documents barber shops in developing countries. Getting a personal service like a shave or haircut, can make a big difference to people’s lives and provides a moment of ease and luxury where life can be harsh and difficult.
Photography Kip Harris 
Barber shops are places of male ease. This is particularly true of the very public street barber shops found in crowded shopping areas in developing countries. Most of the patrons have little comfort in their lives nor much idle time. A hair cut or shave or ear clean provides a respite from bone and spirit crushing jobs, the reassuring gentle touch of another person’s hands taking care of you, and a moment of luxury. A barber shop is a political and social haven for men of all ages and classes. It is a place of initiation and tolerance.
“If you are a good listener, you will always have clients.”
One of my grandfather’s many professions was a barber. Maybe that’s why I‘m drawn to photo them. That and the lessons I’ve learned there: personal services provided to people are generous acts that can make an enormous difference in their lives; you never want to make an enemy of your barber because you depend upon him for much of your own self-respect. But most importantly, I learned that a successful barber doesn’t talk too much; people would rather talk about themselves. If you are a good listener, you will always have clients.
“A hair cut or shave or ear clean provides a respite from bone and spirit crushing jobs.”
“You never want to make an enemy of your barber because you depend upon him for much of your own self-respect.”
About Kip
Harris grew up in a small farming community in the Intermountain West of the US. He holds degrees in English literature from Dartmouth College, in humanities from the University of Chicago, and architecture from the University of Utah. He was a principal of FFKR Architects in Salt Lake City for nearly 30 years.
A serious photographer since the late 80s, he has exhibited in the United States, Canada, Australia, and Europe with four solo and over one hundred group shows. He has been published in Shots Magazine, The Photo Review, Art Reveal, Smithsonian.com, Street Photography Magazine, Barren Magazine, Tagree, Square, Black and White (cover) and a number of on-line photographic sites.
He now lives on the South Shore of Nova Scotia, Canada in an 1823 cottage overlooking the St. Margaret’s Bay. He is the technical director for his wife’s Company X Puppets (a highly portable puppet, dance, theatre group established to present intimate mixed media works).
To see more of his work, visit his website or follow him on Instagram
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