In 1959, photographer Bruce Davidson read about the teenage gangs of New York City. Connecting with a social worker, he made initial contact with a gang called “the Jokers” – a group of unpredictable youths filled with fear, depression, and anger. Davidson became a daily observer and photographer of this alienated youth culture, entering “the cool world” of their lives, staying with the gang members as they stood late at night on the street corner, hung out in the candy store, or went to the beach at Coney Island with their girlfriends. The body of work, known as “Brooklyn Gang”, captures the mating rituals, the war dances and the territorial restlessness of an urban adolescent tribe in
the late 1950s. It’s easy to get lost in his pictures because of the period cars, clothing, and hairdos,… – “Brooklyn Gang” pictures were first published in Esquire magazine and as a book in the late eighties. The images have also recently illustrated an earlier version of Bob Dylan’s “Beyond Here Lies Nothin’” music video. (see it here)
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