Born in 1963 in the South Bronx, Joe Conzo Jr. acquired a passion for photography as a young boy. By some combination of luck and circumstance, as a teenager Joe found himself at the very center of cultural and activist movements changing the Bronx. His father was the personal confidant of Tito Puente, promoting some of the biggest salsa shows of that time; his grandmother, Evelina López Antonetty, was a community activist known as the Hell Lady of the Bronx; and Joe’s classmates at South Bronx High School were literally birthing the culture of Hip Hop.
Starting at the age of 10, Joe began to carry his camera daily, photographing everything from school walkouts to the infamous fires ravaging the Bronx, to rap battles between the Cold Crush Brothers and other foundational Hip Hop groups. Forty-five years later, Joe’s images provide an unmatched and intimate document of the complex forces that created today’s Bronx.
The silver gelatin prints in this exhibition were created at the BDC from Joe Conzo’s original negatives generously loaned by Cornell University’s Hip Hop Collection.
Conzo
A Look Back at the Bronx, 1977-84
March 22, 2024 – April 21, 2024
Bronx Documentary Center Annex
364 E 151st St, Bronx, NY 10455
https://www.bronxdoc.org
Abigail and Rachel Ruiz, Michelangelo Apartments, The Bronx. © Joe Conzo Jr.
Street festival, Third Ave. Hub, The Bronx A dancing roller skater surrounded by attendees of a street festival at the Third Avenue Hub, Bronx, 1981. The concert was sponsored by the radio station WKTU. © Joe Conzo Jr.
United Bronx Parents lot cleanup, 1979 © Joe Conzo Jr.
Charlotte St, the Bronx, 1980 © Joe Conzo Jr.
Charlie Chase of the Cold Crush Brothers at Club Negril, 1981 © Joe Conzo Jr.
Roller skating dancers at street festival, Third Ave Hub, the Bronx, 1981 © Joe Conzo Jr.
