Spanish Harlem, New York’s oldest barrio, is the mecca where Puerto Ricans first established themselves in the U.S. during the 1940s. One of America’s most vital centers of latino culture, Spanish Harlem is home to 125,000 people, half of whom are Latino.
Shot in the mid-to-late 80s, Joseph Rodríguez’s photographs bring us into the core of the neighborhood, capturing the spirit of a people that survive despite the ravages of poverty, and more recently, the threat of gentrification and displacement. In a now-distant landscape littered with abandoned buildings, ominous alleyways, and the plague of addiction, the residents of Spanish Harlem have persevered with flamboyant style and gritty self-reliance.
The heart of the work comes from Rodríguez’s intimacy and access. The trust and familiarity he built with his subjects—repeated visits with no camera, no photographing, then little by little, a peek here, a shot there—enabled him to transcend surface level sheen and exploitation, capturing images that reveal the essence of the neighborhood, and of the era. The intimate access, paired with a sharp eye for detail and composition, and the practiced and disciplined ability to find the perfect moment, led to the creation of an entirely unique and breathtaking narrative.
In images ranging from idyllic scenes of children playing under sprinklers on the playground, to people performing the traditional bomba y plena on Old Timer’s Day, and the shocking images of men shooting up speedballs and children dying of AIDS, Rodríguez reveals a day in the life of the barrio in the 1980s.
Artist Bios
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Joseph Rodriguez
Joseph Rodríguez is a documentary photographer born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. He studied photography at the School of Visual Arts and in the Photojournalism and Documentary Photography Program at the International Center of Photography in New York City.
Recent exhibitions of his work have appeared at Galleri Kontrast in Stockholm, Sweden; the African American Museum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Fototeca in Havana, Cuba; the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute in Birmingham, Alabama; the Open Society Institute’s Moving Walls in New York; the Frieda and Roy Furman Gallery at the Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center; and the Kari Kenneti Gallery in Helsinki, Finland.
In 2001, the Juvenile Justice website, featuring Joseph Rodríguez’s photographs, launched in partnership with the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival High School Pilot Program.
Joseph teaches classes at New York University, the International Center of Photography in New York, and universities in Mexico and Europe.
Rodríguez won an Alicia Patterson Journalism Fellowship in 1993 photographing gang families in East Los Angeles.
Organizations
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United Photo Industries (UPI)
United Photo Industries (UPI) is a New York based nonprofit organization that works to promote a wider understanding of, and increased access to, the art of photography.
Since its founding in 2011, UPI has rapidly solidified its position in the public art landscape by continuing to showcase thought-provoking, challenging, and exceptional photography from across the globe. In its first seven years, UPI has presented the work of more than 2,500 visual artists in gallery exhibitions and public art installations worldwide.
Spanish Harlem: El Barrio in the ’80s
Featuring: Joseph Rodriguez
Curated by: Sam Barzilay
Locations
View Location Details Download a detailed map of this location Brooklyn Bridge Park – Emily Warren Roebling Plaza1 Water St
Brooklyn, NY 11201
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Related Events
Spanish Harlem
Joe Rodriguez and David Gonzalez will be discussing his groundbreaking National Geographic cover on Spanish Harlem in the 1980s, looking back on a vital New York City community that is undergoing increasing gentrification.
Learn More