Joseph Rodríguez is a Documentary photographer born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. He studied photography in the School of Visual Arts and in the Photojournalism and Documentary Photography Program at the International Center of Photography in New York City.
Recent exhibitions of his work have appeared at Galleri Kontrast, Stockholm, Sweden; The African American Museum, Philadelphia, PA; The Fototeca, Havana, Cuba; Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, Birmingham, Alabama, Open Society Institute’s Moving Walls, New York; Frieda and Roy Furman Gallery at the Walter Reade Theater at the Lincoln Center; and the Kari Kenneti Gallery Helsinki, Finland.
In 2001 the Juvenile Justice website, featuring Joseph Rodriguez's photographs, launched in partnership with the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival High School Pilot Program.
Joseph teaches classes at New York University, the International Center of Photography, New York and universities in Mexico and Europe.
Rodriguez won an Alicia Patterson Journalism Fellowship in 1993 photographing gang families in East Los Angeles.
Statement
As a documentary photographer for over 25 years, my point of view has been to work slowly when it is possible. The domestic landscape of America has been my interest for the past two decades. Today I continue to work within the social documentary practice, covering the struggles of everyday life. As Fred Ritchin, author and president of www.pixelpress.org wrote, “Photography too often confirms preconceptions and distances the reader from more nuanced realities. The people in the frame are often depicted as too foreign, too exotic, or simply too different to be easily understood.” I continue to tell stories that have had an effect on my life so that we can diminish this distance and develop a better understanding.
EDUCATION 1985 - Photojournalism/Documentary Diploma, International Center of Photography, New York 1980 - Associate of Applied Science, New York City Technical College, New York 1973 - School of Visual Arts, New York
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS 2013 A Humanist Gaze, Hardhitta Gallery, Cologne, Germany 2012 Homegrown, Irene Carlson Gallery of Photography, University of La Verne, California 2012 Portraits from Another America, Taller Boricua Gallery, New York 2011 Mi Vida Loca, Third Floor Gallery, Cardiff, Wales, UK 2010 Cultural Memory Matters, 601Artspace Gallery, New York 2010 Festival Reportage, Pictures, Words and Stories, Atri Photography Festival, Atri, Italy 2010 Bodies in Question, New York Photo Festival 10, Brooklyn, New York 2010 Visual Citizenship, Institute for Public Knowledge, New York University, New York 2008 Flesh Life: Sex in Mexico City, Drkrm.Gallery, Los Angeles, California 2007 Engulfed by Katrina: Photographs Before and After the Storm, African American Museum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 2006 Engulfed by Katrina: Photographs Before and After the Storm, New York University, Tisch School of the Arts, New York 2005 Juvenile Justice, Galleri Kontrast, Stockholm, Sweden 2003 Imagenes Havana, Fototeca, Havana, Cuba Beggars and Choosers, Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, Birmingham, Alabama 2001 Barrio in NYC and Gang Life in East LA, Galleria Kari Kenetti, Helsinki, Finland Juvenile, Frieda and Roy Furman Gallery, Lincoln Center, New York 2000 East Side Stories Gang Life in East LA, Asbaek Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark Moving Walls: Youthful Offenders in Silicon Valley, Open Society Institute, New York Arte Latino: Treasures from the Smithsonian American Art Museum, El Paso Museum of Art, Texas The Way Home: Ending Homelessness in America, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC 1999 Spanish Harlem/East Los Angeles, Selby Gallery, Ringling School of Art and Design, Florida Biennial, Torino, Italy Under/Exposed, Subway Exhibition, Stockholm, Sweden 1998 Respekt, Stockholm Stadsmuseum, Sweden A Summer Wedding, Leica Gallery, New York 1997 The Chain, Noorderlicht Gallery, 1996 Gangs in Los Angeles, Subway Exhibition, Foto Septiembre, Mexico East Side Stories: Gang Life in Los Angeles, Museo Nacional de Culturas Populares, Mexico City, Mexico 1995 Mother Jones International Fund for Documentary Photography, Award Winners Exhibition Centro de la Imagen, Mexico City, Mexico We Look and See, University Art Museum, Berkeley, California The East Side Story: L.A. Gangs, International Center of Photography, New York. (Solo Exhibition) The Art Directors Club 74th National /9th International Annual Exhibition, New York 1994 Revir (Territory), Kulturhuset, Stockholm, Sweden 1993 Romania's Institutions, New York University Tisch School of the Arts, New York Visual Relief, Tartt Gallery, Washington, D.C. Romania's Institutions, Kulturhuset, Stockholm, Sweden 1992 The Kurds: The Forbidden People, Bibliotek, Uppsala, Sweden 1991 East Harlem, Three Rivers Arts Festival, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania The Kurds: The Forbidden People, Kulturhuset, Stockholm, Sweden 1990 Stockholm/New York, Fotograficentrum, Gothenburg and Stockholm, Sweden 1989 East Harlem, New Documentary USA, Images Gallery, Cincinnati, Ohio 1988 Journey Through My Windows, Fotograficentrum, Gothenburg, Sweden (Solo Exhibition) El Barrio, International Center of Photography, New York (Solo Exhibition) 1987 El Dia de Los Muertos: Rural Traditions of the Day of the Dead, Mexican Museum, San Francisco, California and Fort Worth Museum of Art, Fort Worth, Texas East Harlem, An Audio/Visual Presentation, Festival Off, Le Forum Photo, Arles, France 1986 East Harlem: A Community Facing and Uncertain Future, Networks Gallery, School of Art And Design, Chicago, Illinois
AWARDS AND GRANTS 2013 Open Society Foundation, Documentary Photography Project Audience Engagement Grant 2010 New York Foundation for the Arts, Artists' Fellowship 2008 University of Southern California, Annenberg Institute for Justice and Journalism 2006 Open Society Katrina Media Fellowship 2003 Konstnarsnamden Stipendium, Swedish Arts Council, Sweden 2003 Dart Center for Trauma and Journalism Ochberg Fellowship 2001 Pictures of the Year International, Missouri School of Journalism 1999 Open Society Justice Media Fellowship Fund for Investigative Journalism, Washington, D.C. 1998 The Rockefeller Foundation, USA/Mexico Fund for Culture New York Foundation for the Arts, Artists' Fellowship 1997 California Council for the Humanities 1996 Pictures of the Year, National Press Photographers Association, Missouri School of Journalism 1995 Konstnarsnamden Stipendium, Swedish Arts Council, Sweden 1994 National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship 1993 Alicia Patterson Fellowship, Washington, D.C. Mother Jones International Fund for Documentary Photography Konstnarsnamden Stipendium, Swedish Arts Council, Sweden 1992 Fund for Investigative Journalism, Washington, D.C. Pictures of the Year, National Press Photographers Association, Missouri School of Journalism 1991 Konstnarsnamden Stipendium, Swedish Arts Council, Sweden 1990 Pictures of the Year, National Press Photographers Association, Missouri School of Journalism Swedish International Development Agency Stipendium, Sweden 1989 Konstnarsnamden Stipendium, Swedish Arts Council, Sweden Documentary Photography of the Year, Cincinnati, Ohio 1988 New York Foundation for the Arts, Artists' Fellowship
Catalogs A Humanist Gaze, Hardhitta Gallery, Cologne, Germany 2013 Noorderlicht, The Garden of Eden, The Chain V, The Netherlands, 1997 Centro de la Imagen, Fotoseptiembre, Mexico City, Mexico, 1996
Joseph Rodríguez Photography
Joseph Rodríguez is a Documentary photographer born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. He studied photography in the School of Visual Arts and in the Photojournalism and Documentary Photography Program at the International Center of Photography in New York City.