Penalty Blog

Down These Mean Streets: Community and Place in Urban Photography

Americas urban streets have always inspired documentary photographers.After world war  II, the populations of the cities moved to the suburbs newly built highways started to cut through the thriving neighborhoods  and left parts of the major cities isolated. As these neighborhoods started to decline in the 1950s these photographers found inspiration in the changing cities and their inhabitants. Down these Mean Streets: Community and Place in Urban Photography is a exhibit driven by ten photographers Manuel Acevedo, Oscar Castillo, Frank Espada, Anthony Hernandez, Perla de Leon, Hiram Maristany, Ruben Ochoa, Winston Vargas and Camilo Jose Vergara.

I think the concept of the exhibit is so cool. The way people act during changes is very unique to the person and the place they are in. The way you react to something is different  to the way your sixty year old grandmother reacts to something. I think having that in mind while looking at the pictures really tells you a story of what is happening and how everyone is dealing with the changes in their surroundings. I also think the way that the photographers capture the images is amazing, because they don't just say “Pose this way so I can get a picture“, they actually integrate the lives of the people photographed .

I honestly really like all of the work being put into the exhibit especially because of how much thought is put into every single picture. I like how the exhibit iss spread throughout so many people and photographers so that many people can put their on twist and experiences into the work. I feel like the fact that many people can put their twist on the work alters the way the exhibit as a whole is and it puts a lot of things in a perspective that we as observers would otherwise not have.