F R I D A Y - F R Y - U P  :  A R L E N E - G O T T F R I E D

“From my window on New York City’s Lower East Side I could look out and see the Puerto Rican culture I encountered over 30 years earlier, around the same time I began photographing. One night I heard a street vendor on the corner of Avenue C and East 3rd Street calling, ‘bacalaitos and fireworks;’ bacalaitos, a fried cod fish indigenous to Puerto Rico, and fireworks, for the Fourth of July weekend. This juxtaposition became etched in my mind — representative of an immigrant population on the streets of America.” — Arlene Gottfried on her series Bacalaitos and Fireworks, documenting the wave of Puerto Rican immigration to America in 1970′s - 1980′s NY. 

Arlene Gottfried’ Bacalaitos and Fireworks is now showing at Daniel Cooney Fine Art in New York, do what we can’t and go see it. Runs March 3 - April 16th, opening Reception: Thursday, March 3: 6 - 8pm / Arlene Gottfried in conversation with Paul Moakley (Deputy Director of Photography, TIME): Saturday, April 2 at 3pm. For more info visit - danielcooneyfineart.com