When photographer Gerald Cyrus began photographing New York City in the 1990s, he was drawn to the streets of Harlem, its neighborhoods, its people, and the vibrant music scene that filled its clubs and lounges. Over the course of a decade, he created a remarkable body of black-and-white photographs that capture everyday life with an intimacy and sense of connection that goes well beyond traditional documentary photography. Cyrus’s photographs are attentive to the people who give a place its character, finding beauty and energy in moments that might otherwise go unnoticed.
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The Candid Frame #436 - Gerald Cyrus
Gerald Cyrus was born in 1957 in Los Angeles, CA and began photographing there in 1984. In 1990 he moved to New York City and obtained a Master of Fine Arts degree from the School of Visual Arts (SVA) in 1992. While at SVA, he also interned at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture under the supervision of Deborah Willis. During his time in New York, Cyrus photographed regularly on the streets of Manhattan, Harlem and Brooklyn, and in 1994, he started frequenting the nightclubs in Harlem and photographed the vibrant music scene in that historic neighborhood for over six years. The resulting body of work, entitled “Stormy Monday”, was published as a book in 2008.
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