SEE: Brooklyn Historical Society Exhibit Shows 1960s To 1980s NYC

BROOKLYN HEIGHTS, BROOKLYN — An exhibit opening this week at the Brooklyn Historical Society will offer a glimpse into what life was like decades ago in New York City.

The exhibit, curated by Pratt Institute students, will feature photos of everyday life in 1960s to 1980s NYC taken by Brooklyn photographer Builder Levy. It will open this Friday and be on display until Aug. 11.

“Brooklyn Historical Society is honored to partner with Pratt Institute and provide local students an opportunity to apply their classroom lessons in the real world,” said Deborah Schwartz, president of Brooklyn Historical Society. “This collaboration exemplifies our commitment to community outreach and education, while nurturing the upcoming generation of cultural curators and producers.”

Coney Island, Brooklyn, 1963 (Builder Levy)

The images, which were published in Levy's latest book, "Builder Levy: Humanity in the Streets," include moments such as fighting for civil rights to socializing on the street, including many in Brooklyn.

Pratt Institute’s Spring 2019 Museology Class acted as curators, designers, publicists and more to put them into an exhibit format.

"These images reveal a persistent conscience; formed from tacit connections between subject, streetscape and photographer, that ask the viewer to live and work alongside them," the society said.

Dekalb Avenue, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, 1965 (Builder Levy)

Levy grew up in Brooklyn, received his BA in art from Brooklyn College in 1964 and got a Master’s Degree in art education from NYU in 1966. He has shown his work in more than 250 exhibitions and his photographs are in more than 80 collections throughout New York and in Europe.

In connection with the exhibit, the society will also host a public program on May 2 called "Photography through a Civic Lens: Builder Levy and Brian Palmer in Conversation with Bonnie Yochelson." It will have Levy and visual journalist Brian Palmer reflect on the common threads in their art. Bonnie Yochelson, photo-historian and independent curator, will moderate.

For more information about the exhibition, click here.