NYAB Event - Anderson Zaca “Block Party: NYC Soul of Summer”

Anderson Zaca “Block Party: NYC Soul of Summer”

United Photo Industries

This event has ended.

Block parties are the heart and soul of New York City summers. Zaca has been documenting this great NYC tradition since 2005, capturing over 200 block parties in all of their revelry. Using a 35mm camera and audio recorder he traveled to every borough with a quest and a camera, capturing the interaction between the youth and the elderly, dominoes and cards, open fire hydrants and the infamous NYC grill.

“I kept going every weekend and I was intrigued by the small differences, how do each of the blocks celebrate their uniqueness and how willing they are to open themselves up. Some of the neighborhoods I went to in East New York, some people did not want me to be there and then there were other places, like New Lots, where I was received with open arms.”

Zaca’s photographs capture the spirit of what it means to be a part of the fabric of New York. As neighborhoods change and become increasingly gentrified, this approximately 60 year-‐old simple tradition of shutting down a block, grilling food and hanging out with your neighbors and letting the kids run up and down the street unfettered by traffic, is really something to be celebrated and cherished. In these photos Zaca stimulates our imagination to see the New York of yesterday in the photographs of today affording fond reminiscences of a hallowed and beloved New York summer tradition.

“Zaca’s glorious photos taken at various block parties around the city, I must say they really do capture the absolute joy these uniquely urban celebration generate”!
(Marty Markowitz Brooklyn Borough President).

Born and raised in São Paulo Brazil, Anderson Zaca immigrated to New York in 1995. Zaca completed his photographic journey throughout NYC photography universities in 2000. A trip to Latin America and Europe was the beginning of a photo documentary career that led to many exhibitions, lectures and workshops. In 2008 he earned a second degree from Brooklyn College in film which led him to direct commercial work with Nike, Neman Marcus, Target TJX and others. His first book Block Party NYC Soul of Summer was released in June 2015. He currently lives in New York and works as photographer and filmmaker.