The photographer's eye manages to capture a truth in her shots. The viewer becomes witness to a shared moment in which the essence of her ghetto youth is revealed.
Photographs of young Americans giving themselves tattoos for life and for a few dollars, to bear witness to their existence. It's an investigation into the body, personality, intimacy, representation, what we give to be seen. Tattoos have only been permitted under New York law since 1996. Since then, they have flourished on almost every young person in the ghettos.
Today, they are an integral part of their culture. Thanks to them, young people engrave on their skin the important moments of their lives, their beliefs, their belonging to a clan, their originality and their passion. Bodies become the open pages of diaries, to please, to distinguish themselves and assert their strength, to cry out their hopes and despairs.
Yesterday forbidden, today New York is teeming with small tattoo stores. "I decided to immortalize certain individuals getting tattoos at a ghetto tattoo shop, improvised right in the center of Harlem. The idea was to show an intimate, creative side of the street culture players at one of their places of pilgrimage." From New York suburbs to the Nigerian underworld, from fashion to advertising to record sleeves, Maï Lucas has always been interested in the details, style and creativity that people use to shine, focusing on what's unique about them.
Following on from the "Ghetto Shine" exhibition, "Tatoos, 125th Street", 4x5 inch view-camera photos, opens the second part of her work on American street culture. The photographer's eye manages to capture a truth in her shots. The viewer becomes witness to a shared moment in which the essence of her ghetto youth is revealed.
© Speerstra Gallery