Street Level by Sue Kwon

by L.A. Ruano, August 10, 2009

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Renowned photographer Sue Kwon will soon be releasing her new book, entitled Street Level. The photography-centric publication looks to feature a plethora of commercial and documentary photography from Kwon, whom is most notably known for her stellar work in the world of Hip-Hop. Retail is set at $45 USD, with availability soon at Art Book.

Street Level collects 20 years of documentary and commercial photography by esteemed New York photographer Sue Kwon. Her subjects include some of Hip Hop’s finest, such as the Beastie Boys, Biggie Smalls and the Wu-Tang Clan, as well as portraits and street scenes from New York’s most charismatic neighborhoods–Little Italy, Chinatown, Coney Island, the Lower East Side and a pre-Guiliani Times Square. These black-and-white images, characterized by an evident fondness for the lives they depict, are populated with recruits from all realms and occasions, from shoe-shiners to inmates at the Rahway State Prison to newlyweds and strippers between sets at the infamous Sue’s Rendezvous. As direct and candid as their subjects, Sue Kwon’s photographs share a kinship with those of the legendary New York documentary photographer Helen Levitt. Although Kwon is well known in the Hip Hop world, this is the first complete monograph to survey her work.

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Source: Aaron Bondaroff

6 Responses

  1. Posted by: Dreezy on August 12, 2009 at 12:55 pm

    That is the right eye but the camera flips the image

  2. Posted by: naeem on August 11, 2009 at 3:21 am

    the picture with the abandoned car and falling snow is real good.

  3. Posted by: zoso on August 11, 2009 at 1:30 am

    this book looks grand, when kids were kids. now every 10 yr old thinks they are adults. sad sad sad.

  4. Posted by: A King's Ransom on August 10, 2009 at 9:22 pm

    Rick’s patch is on his right eye, but you get an ‘A’ for effort.

  5. Posted by: hades on August 10, 2009 at 8:59 pm

    love her work

  6. Posted by: mrh on August 10, 2009 at 5:49 pm

    hey look slick rick as a youngin’!