Spanish Harlem: El Barrio in the '80s

(Hardback)

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Description

To live in Spanish Harlem, New York's oldest barrio, is to confront some of the city's most endemic problems: crime, drugs, AIDS and chronic unemployment. Yet the mecca where Puerto Ricans first established themselves in the 1940s is now the 'capital of Hispanic America' home to 120,000 people, half of whom are Latino. Shot in the mid-to-late '80s, Joseph Rodriguez's superb photographs bring us into the heart of Spanish Harlem, capturing a spirit and a time that survives despite the ravages of poverty.

Reviews

"Rodriguez's photographs of East Harlem capture the core of the neighborhood, a spirit of a people that survives despite the ravages of poverty, and more recently, the threat of gentrification and displacement. The trust and familiarity he built with his subjects-repeated visits with no camera, then no photographing, then little by little, a peek here, a shot there-allowed him to transcend surface level sheen and exploitation to capture images that reveal the essence of the neighborhood and of the era." * Amadeus Magazine *
"His Kodachrome photographs tell stories of a community that persevered and even flourished in the face of addiction, urban decay, and, eventually, gentrification." * Artnet *
"Rodriguez shows himself to be a compassionate and astute chronicler of the quotidian experiences of the people he photographs. The spontaneous quality that suffuses many of his images belies a far more intricate and dedicated photographic process honed over the years he spent in El Barrio." * Art in America *
"They don't come more New York than Joseph Rodriguez." * It's Nice That *
"...unearthing huge new caches of images, and re-editing and showcasing the body of work in a beautiful, deluxe monograph, reframing the project as one that pushed beyond documentary into the realm of fine art." * F-Stop Magazine *
"Whether it be wild street parties or impoverished tenement families crammed into a single room, the full spectrum of life in East Harlem was preserved by Rodriguez's film work." * Gothamist *
"These photos of Spanish Harlem in the 1980s, show the lush, tough life of a vibrant neighborhood." * Timeline *
"The rough and the ready of 1980s Spanish Harlem captured in all its tenaciousness by documentary photographer Joseph Rodriguez." * WeHeart *
"What's beautiful about Rodriquez's work - besides the rawness, grit and vibrance of the tableaus he paints - is that his work simultaneouslyglorifies the past and celebrates the Harlem that still exists today." * Creative Review *
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Author Bio

Joseph Rodriguezwas born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. He began studying photography at the School of Visual Arts and went on to receive an Associate of Applied Science degree at New York City Technical College. He worked in the graphic arts industry before deciding to pursue photography further. In 1985 he graduated with a Photojournalism and Documentary diploma from the International Center of Photography in New York. He went on to work for Black Star photo agency, and print and online news organizations likeEsquire, The Guardian,Mother Jones,National Geographic,New America Media,The New York Times Magazine,Newsweek,Stern,andTheWashington Post. He has received awards and grants from the New York Foundation for the Arts, Artists' Fellowship, USC Annenberg Institute for Justice and Journalism, the Open Society Institute Justice Media Fellowship and Katrina Media Fellowship, National Endowment for the Arts, the Rockefeller Foundation, Mother Jones International Fund for Documentary Photography, and the Alicia Patterson Fellowship Fund for Investigative Journalism. He has been awarded Pictures of the Year by the National Press Photographers Association and the University of Missouri, in 1990, 1992, 1996 and 2002. He is the author ofSpanish Harlem, part of the American Scene series, published by the National Museum of American Art/ D.A.P., as well asEast Side Stories: Gang Life in East Los Angeles,Juvenile,Flesh Life Sex in Mexico City, andStill Here: Stories After Katrina, published by powerHouse Books. Recent exhibitions include Galerie Bene Taschen, Cologne, Germany; Irene Carlson Gallery of Photography, University of La Verne, California; Third Floor Gallery, Cardiff, Wales, UK Institute for Public Knowledge, New York, NY; Moving Walls, Open Society Institute, New York, NY; and Cultural Memory Matters, 601 Art Space, New York, NY.