Black and white photography has been the main attraction for me. It is removed from the glitz and glamor color. It tears down the noise and provides one the simplicity of what is there. Supplies clarity, truth, and a path to a destination without complications. Sure  there are some grays between the spaces, but so does life. We live in grays and come alive in the drama of contractions and extremes.

As a photographer, I used my camera to break down my earlier isolation programming and explore my surroundings. The camera gives me permission to investigate and learn what others do. It demands a visual understanding of whom my subjects are with empathy and patience, whether it’s a long-term documentary project at a Bronx Firehouse (1997-2002), at a Bronx Monastery (1996 – 1997), or as a photojournalist working on extensive photo essays.

This street photography project has evolved from the Lower Manhattan series to Night Vision. A collection of images of the LES and China town captured at night, resequenced, and translated into a triptych.

As triptychs, the language changes to a story on a panel that becomes a question of relationships from one image to another—placed together organically, not logically, to be deciphered by the viewer.

Marisol Díaz-Gordon (She/Her) is a Bronx-born and raised Puerto Rican photographer. She was the former Program Director of En Foco from 1998–2011. She is currently working on her MFA in Digital Media at Lehman College, CUNY. She received a BA focusing on photography from City College, CUNY (2002) and an AAS in Advertising Arts/Computer Graphics from Bronx Community College, CUNY (1993). Her work has been exhibited in galleries and alternative spaces throughout New York, including by En Foco (2000 and 2011), George Eastman Museum, Rochester, New York (2008), and Taller Boricua Gallery, New York, New York (2006). In 2008, she was nominated by En Foco for a commission with George Eastman Museum to document landscapes in Puerto Rico. That work traveled to such venues as the Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, (2009) and is currently held in the permanent collection of George Eastman Museum. From 2016 to 2018, ARTViews Gallery at Montefiore Medical Center collected, commissioned, and exhibited her work. She is also a participant in the Bronx Artist Documentary Project (2014).

The Fire Escape Gallery is a new public art initiative developed by En Foco, which activates the exterior of Bronx Kreate Hub turning the fire escapes into a public gallery space. The goal of the Fire Escape Gallery is to create ongoing public photography exhibitions that highlight En Foco’s growing community of artists of color. The public gallery serves as a way to promote and highlight diverse artists as well as cultural, art, and local tourism in the South Bronx. It also supports local businesses via art and community. 

The Fire Escape Gallery enables artists the opportunity to explore this urban, iconic public space for photography and lens-based art. There will be two curated exhibits organized annually for this new En Foco venue.