Photoville

Joseph Rodriguez

Joseph Rodriguez

Joseph Rodriguez was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. He began studying photography at the School of Visual Arts and went on to receive an AAS from New York City Technical College. He worked in the graphic arts industry before deciding to pursue photography further. In 1985, he graduated with a degree in photojournalism and documentary 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 like National Geographic, the New York Times Magazine, Mother Jones, Newsweek, New York Magazine, Esquire, SternBBC News and New America Media, as well as advertising campaigns for Levi’s, AIG, and Ikea. He has received awards and grants from the New York Foundation for the Arts Artist 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, the Alicia Patterson Fellowship Fund for Investigative Journalism and the Konstnarsnamden Stipendium. 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 of Spanish Harlem, part of the American Scene series, by the National Museum of American Art/D.A.P., as well as “East Side Stories: Gang Life in East Los Angeles,” “Juvenile,” “Flesh Life: Sex in Mexico City,” “Still Here: Stories After Katrina,” and “Spanish Harlem: El Barrio in the ’80s” (Powerhouse Books). Recent exhibitions include Aperture Gallery, Galerie Bene Taschen in Cologne, Germany, Reva and David Logan Gallery for Documentary Photography at the Graduate School of Journalism in Berkeley, California, the Bronx Documentary Center in New York, NY, Gulf & Western Gallery in New York, NY, Hardhitta Gallery in Cologne, Germany, Irene Carlson Gallery of Photography at the University of La Verne, California, Third Floor Gallery in Cardiff, Wales, U.K., Institute for Public Knowledge in New York, NY, Moving Walls at the Open Society Institute in New York, NY, and Cultural Memory Matters at 601 Art Space in New York, NY. He has been a visiting artist at Stanford University, the Institute for Diversity in the Arts, California, the University of La Verne, California, Columbia University’s School of Journalism, New York, the University of Texas, Austin’s School of Journalism, Ringling School of Art and Design, Florida, the University of Helsinki, Finland, Aarhus University, Denmark, Royal University of Fine Arts’ School of Architecture, Sweden, Loyola Marymount University, California, Hostos Community College, New York, and the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, New York. He presently teaches at New York University Tisch School of the Arts and the International Center of Photography.

Archive Exhibitions Featuring Joseph Rodriguez

Taxi Journey Through My Windows 1977-1987

First Street Green Cultural Park
 archive : 2021

TAXI: Journey Through My Windows 1977–1987 is a portrait of the gritty chaos and community of New York in the 1970s. The book is composed of photographs captured from the driver’s seat of documentary photographer (and cab driver) Joseph Rodriguez’s taxi—including scenes of night workers getting off their shifts, children jumping through the spray of open fire hydrants in the summer, and S&M partiers leaving clubs, zipped in leather, in the early hours of the morning.

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Spanish Harlem: El Barrio in the ’80s

Brooklyn Bridge Park – Emily Warren Roebling Plaza
 archive : 2019

Shot in the mid-to-late 80s, Joseph Rodríguez’s photographs bring us into the core of Spanish Harlem, capturing the spirit of a people that survive despite the ravages of poverty, and more recently, the threat of gentrification and displacement.

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1992-2017-East Side Stories

Annenberg Space for Photography
 archive : Photoville LA

East Side Stories puts a human face to gang members in Los Angeles while in their homes and with their families.

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Archive Sessions and Events Featuring Joseph Rodriguez

Oct 232021

Walking Tour Of Taxi: Journey Through My Windows 1977-1987, With Joseph Rodriguez

Grab your morning coffee and come join legendary photographer Joseph Rodriguez as he shares his memories and stories behind the images in his exhibition and book “Taxi: Journey Through My Windows 1977-1987,” a collection of snapshots that are on display along the fence of First Street Green Cultural Park on Houston Street.

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Oct 72021

Good Work: Worker Co-Operatives And Transformative Labor Photography

Co-operative businesses are returning workers’ power. These photographers have shown both the beauty and the effort of when Americans get to be their own bosses.

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Sep 182021

10 Under 10

Photoville’s 10 Under 10 featuring presentations from The New York Times, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Abrons Arts Center, Magnum Foundation, Pulitzer Center, Indigenous Photo, United Nations Women, Joseph Rodriguez, The Darkroom Masters, and National Geographic featuring live music from Carnegie Hall’s Lullaby Project.

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Sep 142019

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.

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Apr 272019

East Side Stories: Journey towards Justice, Past and Present

Join Joseph Rodríguez, Ruben Martinez, Dr. Jesse De La Cruz, and Rubén Martínez for a powerful educational discussion on gang violence, juvenile justice and re-entry into Los Angeles communities.

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This website was made possible thanks to the generous support and partnership of Photowings