SANKOFA TALKS: Capturing Our Culture
Photographers Joe Conzo Jr. and Dondre Green in our next Sankofa Talk. These Bronx natives will discuss their upbringings and the ways they’ve served as cultural activists by documenting life from behind the lens in their home borough.
Sankofa Talks is our platform to bring intergenerational conversations to the public. Through each talk we take time to retrieve and honor our Diaspora’s history, reflect on its contributions to our present and recognize the power it has to inform how we move forward into the future.
Joe Conzo Jr.
Born and raised in the Bronx, Joe acquired a passion for photography as a young boy attending the Agnes Russell School on the campus of Columbia University. He continued his formal artistic education at the School of Visual Arts (NYC). The New York Times, heralded Joe Conzo Jr. as “The Man Who Took Hip-Hop’s Baby Pictures.” The long and perilous journey of his photographic images had finally captured the gaze of mainstream America.
All the while, he continued his photography and published a seminal book on Hip Hop culture that has received worldwide recognition, “Born in The Bronx: A Visual Record of the Early Days of Hip Hop” (2007). In 2008, this entire collection of images became part of a permanent archive housed at Cornell University. The digitization of over 10,000 of Joe Conzo Jr.’s film images has already begun—progress can be viewed at the Cornell University Library’s website. This collection is regarded by genre experts and academia as an important lens into the roots of Hip Hop culture, the Urban NYC landscape of the 70’s and 80’s, and it is an integral source for any serious discourse on the movement. Joe has traveled all over the world showcasing his photographic archives as a Bronx ambassador.
In 2019, Joe published his second book, “111 Places in Da Bronx That You Must Not Miss”, showcasing The Bronx’s historical contributions to The World.
Retired now for 3 years from public service, Joe continues his photographic career, documenting events all over the world and fighting for the basic human rights for the people in The Bronx.
Dondre Green
Dondre Green is a New York based Photographer and multidisciplinary artist—specializing in portraiture, documentary and storytelling work. He’s the founder and creative director of Bronx Narratives, a publication that highlights local stories within his community.