CCCADI Launches Film Photography Exhibition Highlighting NYC Hip Hop

New York, NY – As the world commemorates Hip-Hop’s 50th anniversary, the Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute (CCCADI) launched its latest in-person exhibition entitled, Rhythm, Bass and Place: Through the Lens with two grand opening events. The organization’s first in-person exhibition since the 2020 pandemic shutdown, CCCADI welcomed 250 individuals to its East Harlem landmark Firehouse location (120 E 125th Street, NY, NY 10035) to view the works of New York photographers Joe Conzo Jr. and Malik Yusef Cumbo. These works explore the moments in which musical styles were created in New York City’s African Diasporic communities. From portrait to photojournalism, this exhibition is a testament to a social movement, a cultural renaissance and a communally crafted sound experience that reverberates worldwide.

“The American political and social climate of the 1970’s spawned a musical movement. The dismantling of social programs lit a fire under the creativity of Black and brown youth across New York City Boroughs. There are stories that live between rhythm, imagination and innovation out of hardship. And yet, trauma is not the engine. Artists have found a way to mark this era through a series of interrelated cultural practices — breakdancing, scratching, rhyming, and painting — manufacturing joy. Photography serves as a compass into these lively worlds. This photographic exploration mirrors what it means to be a selector at the decks painting a story with each song – even if the song is an image,” - Lynnée Denise, Curator of Rhythm, Bass and Place: Through the Lens.

For the exhibition, CCCADI has procured images with a combined history of over 50 years of visual storytelling for New York’s music culture. While Joe Conzo Jr.’s work captures the Afro-Latin contributions and signatures to multiple genres of music from disco to house to Hip-Hop, Malik Yusef Cumbo’s work captures the ’90s and ’00s element of New York Hip-Hop and artists who have left a mark on what could be called the New York City underground street culture. By placing these photographers in the same exhibition, CCCADI seeks to inspire questions about the usefulness of a visual archive of the city’s music and cultural history.

The exhibition will be on display from March - June 23, 2023 during the following gallery hours: Thursdays and Fridays 3 - 7 p.m., and *Saturdays 12 - 4 p.m. at CCCADI, 120 E. 125th Street, New York, NY 10035. (*Closed on May 27, 2023.)

Rhythm, Bass and Place: Through the Lens is part of CCCADI’s five-month series, launched in February 2023, that celebrates the migration and creative evolution of Black music by highlighting the routes of rhythms and sound culture in a Diasporic context. Entitled Rhythm, Bass and Place: Connections and Reflections on Music of the African Diaspora, the series constructs a living archive through engaging stories from neighborhoods, stages, studios and dance floors that shaped the sonic landscape in select U.S., U.K. and Caribbean cities over the last three decades. Virtual programs, upcoming events and resources that are all part of this series can be found at www.cccadi.org/rbp

ABOUT CCCADI
The Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute (CCCADI), is an arts, culture, education and media organization that advances cultural equity, racial and social justice for African descendant communities. CCCADI's programs serve children/youth, families, young professionals, elders, local and international artists, and practitioners of African-based spiritual traditions. Through our work CCCADI offers a collective space where African descendants honor the contributions of the global African Diaspora through exhibitions, performances, conferences, educational programs and international exchanges. Learn more at www.cccadi.org