2021-12-03 Hiram Maristany Visits El Centro Archives

Hiram Maristany

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Hiram Maristany (1945-2022) was born and raised in El Barrio (East Harlem), New York. He was revered as “the people’s photographer of El Barrio” and captured the joy and the struggles of a community coming of age in the 1960s, when young New York–born Puerto Ricans were asserting a new cultural-political identity inspired by the Cuban Revolution, the Chicago Young Lords, and the Civil Rights and Black Power movements. Maristany was one of the founding members of the New York chapter of the Young Lords Party and also their official photographer, capturing some of their most iconic moments. His work is featured in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, The Whitney Museum of American Art, the National Gallery of Art, The National Museum of African American History and Culture, the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, and El Museo del Barrio.

Hiram Maristany. Léchon/Roasting Pig in Alley,1971. Gelatin Silver Print. 15 × 18 3/4 in. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Smithsonian Latino Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Latino Center. © 1971, Hiram Maristany
Hiram Maristany. Hydrant: In the Air, 1963. Gelatin silver print. 13 x 17 5/8 in. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Smithsonian Latino Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Latino Center © 1963, Hiram Maristany.
Hiram Maristany. Casa Evita, 1965. Gelatin silver print. 18 1/2 × 15 in. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Smithsonian Latino Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Latino Center © 1965, Hiram Maristany.
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