Skip to Content

A Monthly Culture Matrix For the Cosmopolitan Traveler

En Foco: The New York Puerto Rican Experience, 1973–74


El Museo del Barrio / New York / Art

In 1973, three Bronx-based photographers—Charles Biasiny-Rivera, Roger Cabán, and Felipe Dante—decided to document their neighborhood. They captured their subjects in black-and-white: teenagers eating lunch at Franklin High School, men behind bodega cash registers, empty barber shops, migrant workers picking cauliflower. Choosing 79 photographs taken in 1973 and 74, the artists released a single portfolio that explored small businesses and labor in their Puerto Rican community. In 1974, they collaborated again, this time founding En Foco, an art collective that encourages and presents work by fellow Puerto Rican and Latin American artists (nearly 50 years later the collective is still running). For the first time in decades, that first collaboration—the photo portfolio—is on view. Also included are posters and catalogues for 1970s exhibitions in which En Foco took part. —J.D.

Visit
El Museo del Barrio 1230 5th Ave, New York, NY 10029, USA
Get Directions »
Start a New Search
Subscribers Only

Start your free trial to access the full Arts Intel Report

Subscribe to Air Mail to access every article
and search our entire Arts Intel Report.

Subscribe Now

Already a subscriber? Sign in here.