[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 65 (Thursday, May 12, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E885]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          HONORING THE PUERTO RICAN PHOTOGRAPHERS OF NEW YORK

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. CHARLES B. RANGEL

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 12, 2011

  Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, I rise today, to recognize the lasting 
impact of the photo-journalists of the New York City Puerto Rican 
Community, as recently displayed at the 2011 New York Photo Festival.
  The renowned exhibition features eight photographers, who during the 
1970's and 80's catalogued the daily lives and growth of their 
community. Frank Espada, Joe Conzo, Pablo Delano, Perla de Leon, Ricky 
Flores, David Gonzalez, Maximo Colon and Francisco Reyes II all became 
voices of the community through their art. They captured on film the 
diaspora that makes New York City truly special as well as the everyday 
pioneers whose struggles inch our nation closer to our founding ideals.
  During the decades that span these photos, the Puerto Rican community 
in New York rose up against prejudices that prevented them from 
enjoying their equal rights and established a more inclusive pride in 
their cultural heritage. Amidst the upheaval and hardships, these 
photographers captured the beauty in their surroundings. Today their 
work reveals a unique perspective into the rise of the New York's 
Hispanic Community.
  I have attached for the record a recent Daily News article, written 
by Carolina Gonzalez previewing the exhibition.
  Mr. Speaker, these photographers and their work must not be 
forgotten. Thanks to the efforts of Adriana Teresa Letorney, people 
from all over the district, the city, the country can discover the 
visual evidence of the Puerto Rican community in transition, from 
outcasts to vibrant, integral parts of our great nation.

              [From the New York Daily News, May 11, 2011]

Exhibit Sshowcases Work of 8 Photographers Who Documented Puerto Rican 
                       Community in '70s and '80s

                         (By Carolina Gonzalez)

       Several people carry oversize papier-mache puppets 
     representing the Three Wise Men while others, dressed as 
     shepherds, herd actual sheep. They walk into one of the 
     arched passageways along upper Park Ave., making tracks in a 
     dusting of snow.
       This scene from Dia de Reyes is instantly recognizable to 
     longtime New Yorkers familiar with El Barrio folkways. The 
     image, taken in 1978 by Frank Espada, is representative of 
     several dozen on display at a new exhibit dedicated to eight 
     Puerto Rican photographers documenting their community.
       Titled ``Dia''--not after the Spanish word for ``day,'' but 
     after the Greek word for ``across''--the show is presented at 
     the FotoVisura Pavilion as part of the annual New York Photo 
     Festival, which opens today at DUMBO Arts Center, 111 Front 
     St., Brooklyn, and runs through Sunday.
       The images are primarily from the 1970s and 1980s, set in 
     the South Bronx, East Harlem and the lower East Side. Many 
     were taken when the photographers were in their 20s.
       ``What I was looking for was a moment in time that the 
     Puerto Rican community took a stand in who they were and 
     started to develop its own voice,'' said curator Adriana 
     Teresa Letorney.
       ``It's important for my generation to see that, how this 
     group became a voice of a community.''
       Letorney, who arrived from San Juan eight years ago to 
     study art, created FotoVisura, the organization sponsoring 
     the show, as a service for new and veteran photographers, 
     offering online space to show and share photographs.
       ``Dia'' is her first show dedicated entirely to U.S.-based 
     Puerto Rican photographers.
       Some of Joe Conzo's shots document protests against the 
     1981 film ``Fort Apache, the Bronx,'' which many community 
     members saw as exploiting stereotypes of Bronx Puerto Ricans 
     as savage criminals.
       An image by Espada of young dancers from Ballet Hispanico, 
     arms in the air and heads back, is as tender as any by Degas.
       Some shots have elements burned into the popular 
     imagination as representative of Puerto Rican communities: 
     burned-out buildings, run-down businesses, dirty streets.
       But as in several images by Pablo Delano, Perla de Leon, 
     Ricky Flores and David Gonzalez of happy children at play in 
     these settings, it is clear that where others saw ruins, 
     these shooters saw life.
       For all the photographers, the work comes from a period 
     when they began to see themselves as serious shooters with a 
     responsibility to document their communities. But not all 
     ended up as fine-arts photographers.
       Flores continues to work in journalism. Gonzalez is better 
     known for his journalistic writing, primarily at the New York 
     Times. De Leon is known as a filmmaker. Conzo's day job is as 
     an emergency medical technician, although he continues to 
     document hip-hop and salsa culture as a hobby.
       Delano continues to work as a documentary photographer and 
     as a professor at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn. And 
     Espada, at 80 the oldest in the group, considers himself 
     ``half-retired.''
       The show is presented as a projected slide show, not a 
     traditional exhibit of printed photos. ``Having it be a slide 
     show in a way represents how this was a transient stage in 
     our lives, the impermanence of things,'' Flores said.
       ``Why aren't more people outside of our community aware of 
     what happened? How did our history get swept away?''

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