Untitled

In 1967, Bruce Davidson was awarded the first National Endowment for the Arts grant for his two-year long photography project, East 100th Street (1966-1968). The project documented life on one block in Harlem, New York City. Taken as part of the East 100th Street series, this photograph is one of many poignant portraits of people living on the block. Davidson also captured intimate images of apartment interiors, as well as building façades, revealing the joy and pain of daily experiences. Like the pair shown here, many of those portrayed in the series engage with the camera directly, perhaps illustrating their intimacy with the photographer, who often stayed with his subjects. Davidson recalled, “If I am looking for a story at all, it is in my relationship to the subject – the story that tells me, rather than that I tell.”