Rising Above

Online Gallery of Down These Mean Streets: Community and Place in Urban Photography

Hiram Maristany, Young Man with Roses, 1971, gelatin silver print, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Smithsonian Latino Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Latino Center, 2016.30.12, © 1971, Hiram Maristany
Young Man with Roses
Date1971
gelatin silver print
Not on view
Hiram Maristany, Hydrant: In the Air, 1963, gelatin silver print, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Smithsonian Latino Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Latino Center, 2016.30.3, © 1963, Hiram Maristany
Hydrant: In the Air
Date1963
gelatin silver print
Not on view
Kite Flying on Rooftop
Date1964
gelatin silver print
Not on view
Children at Play
Date1965, printed 2016
gelatin silver print
Not on view
Hiram Maristany, The Gathering, 1964, printed 2016, gelatin silver print, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Smithsonian Latino Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Latino Center, 2016.30.4, © 1964, Hiram Maristany
The Gathering
Date1964, printed 2016
gelatin silver print
Not on view
Hiram Maristany, Hydrant: Hand, 1963, gelatin silver print, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Smithsonian Latino Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Latino Center, 2016.30.2, © 1963, Hiram Maristany
Hydrant: Hand
Date1963
gelatin silver print
Not on view
Hiram Maristany, Night View, 1961, gelatin silver print, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Smithsonian Latino Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Latino Center, 2016.30.1, © 1961, Hiram Maristany
Night View
Date1961
gelatin silver print
Not on view
Casa Evita
Date1965
gelatin silver print
Not on view

Communities targeted for urban renewal were often labeled slums, a characterization that many local residents and activists contested. Hiram Maristany often took to rooftops, fire escapes, and windows to capture a dramatically different perspective of his El Barrio neighborhood in New York City. His pictures of children playing on the streets or adults roasting a pig in an alley—a tradition transplanted from Puerto Rico—portray a community teeming with life and culture. Maristany’s photographs transcend the media’s image of the inner city as a place of decay and crime. Like Frank Espada, Maristany married his photography with his activism. In 1969, he became a founding member and official photographer of the Young Lords, a radical youth activist group dedicated to improving urban life and fighting for Puerto Rican rights.