From the margins of the metropolis to the center of the city, Ángel Franco went out in search of "Invisible New Yorkers." His journey -- armed with a camera and sketchbook -- was to discover the secrets and passions people harbored in their hearts, sometimes against all hope or expectation.
The result is a black book bursting with potent portraits embellished by his subject's own words and drawings. A woman, suffering from mental illness, clings to her poetry. A...
more »From the margins of the metropolis to the center of the city, Ángel Franco went out in search of "Invisible New Yorkers." His journey -- armed with a camera and sketchbook -- was to discover the secrets and passions people harbored in their hearts, sometimes against all hope or expectation.
The result is a black book bursting with potent portraits embellished by his subject's own words and drawings. A woman, suffering from mental illness, clings to her poetry. A man whose head is covered with tattoos, reveling in the diversity of the people who work at a side- show. A mother and musician who sustains her late son's memory by hosting jazz salons in her living room. A homeless couple who yearn to marry -- and find a place to live for $100 a week.
These are the New Yorkers who survive -- and sometimes thrive -- away from the limelight. In Franco's eye, they become guides to a rediscovered urban landscape.
Ángel Franco is a senior photographer at the New York Times. A protégé of Ben Fernandez, he went on to cover Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as producing a singular body of work on New York City. He has been part of two Pulitzer Prize-winning teams. Among his many awards are the Leica Medal of Excellence, and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York Foundation for the Arts.
-- David Gonzalez, October 2010
« less
