Photos of Puerto Rican life in New York in the ‘60s and ‘70s
- Text by Miss Rosen
- Photography by George Malave
Photographer George Malave got his start documenting New York’s Puerto Rican community during the 1960s and ‘70s, chronicling a people persevering against the odds.
“My life’s work has been to record this journey through time and space. It’s a record of people encountered, places seen, events experienced, a visual diary reflecting who we have become, the images are a mirror of our collective selves,” he says. Malave is now looking back at this seminal era amid the new online exhibition, George Malave: A Collection of Photographs from 1968 – 1979.
Shortly after he was born in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, in 1946, Malave moved with his mother to Brooklyn. Growing up in Williamsburg long before it was gentrified, he was attuned to energetic flow of street life. “As inner city kids, the streets became our playground where we discovered ourselves, learned about the world and each other,” he says.
While studying at the Educational Alliance under Dr. Al Freed, Malave embarked on his first series, Varet Street Kids (1968-9), creating an insider’s look at youth coming of age amidst a backdrop of urban decay. “Photographing Varet Street Kids became a way of rediscovering the manner in which I grew up, exposing how lives are influenced by the way we interact with one another and how the world is seen and understood through children’s lives,” Malave says.
“Through fun and play children drowned out the deplorable surroundings in many of the poorest neighbourhoods in New York. My focus was to use my mind’s eye to record the innocence of childhood and the importance of interpersonal relationships in the development of a human being.”
Malave points to the seminal 1973 exhibition, Dos Mundos: Words of the Puerto Rican, as a turning point. Featuring the work of 12 photographers from New York and Puerto Rico, the exhibition brought independent artists together in community for the first time.
“Dos Mundos was the first large-scale exhibit to show how Puerto Ricans saw themselves,” Malave says. “We gained inspiration, mentors, and lifelong friends by entering its doors and began collaborating on various exhibition projects over the years. It spoke to us as creatives with similar issues and experiences. We had been using photography to record our own lives, our own history, in our own way.”
From this exhibition, the Puerto Rican photography collective En Foco was born, of which Malave was a founding member. It was set up to nurture, exhibit, and publish new talents, and still does so to this day.
“If photography teaches anything, it’s that everything encountered becomes a part of us,” Malave says. “We are made up of bits and pieces of people, places and things. We grow and acquire knowledge and power when we collaborate and contribute what we know. Any good or harm we do to others we do to ourselves, we get what we give. Life’s joy and value is in making the world a better place because of our existence.”
George Malave: A Collection of Photographs from 1968 – 1979 is now online at EnFoco.
Enjoyed this article? Like Huck on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.
Latest on Huck
The legendary trans artist & illustrator behind Drag magazine
A new book brings together pioneer Vicky West’s luminous illustrations of fantasy, femininity and fashion.
Written by: Miss Rosen
Why did police taser a Bristol grandfather in the face?
Trailblazing documentary I Am Judah chronicles community champion Ras Judah Adunbi’s horrific treatment at the hands of the police and his fight for justice.
Written by: Maisy Hunter
In photos: Ghana’s complex e-waste industry
A new exhibition explores the country’s huge, unregulated industry, which can be hazardous to workers’ health and the local enviroment, yet provides economic opportunity to many.
Written by: Isaac Muk
Meet Corbin Shaw, Huck 81’s Artist in Residence
The Sheffield born artist talks about the people and places that shaped his practice for the latest issue of Huck.
Written by: Josh Jones
The Blessed Madonna: “Dance music flourishes in times of difficulty”
The DJ talks about her debut album ‘Godspeed’, connection and resistance on the dance floor, the US election and more alongside exclusive pictures from her album release party.
Written by: Ben Smoke
Revisiting the birth of skate culture in 1970s Los Angeles
New photobook ‘Last Days of Summer: California Skateboarding Archive 1975–1978’ looks back at an iconic chapter of youth culture.
Written by: Miss Rosen