Edwin Pagán’s THROWBACK is a documentary photo essay that focuses on the resiliency of urban communities who have prevailed and thrived beyond their environments in the South Bronx, Spanish Harlem (El Barrio), and the Lower East Side (Loisaida).

The images compiled in this photographic showcase reveal the untainted splendor of communities in everyday situations. Individually they present fleeting tableaux of precise personal incidents. Taken together, they provide a wider understanding of how universal youth resiliency really is.

Starting at the age of eleven and continuing until today, Edwin Pagán has documented the people of the South Bronx and other interconnected communities with a disciplined photographic eye that he has trained over the course of 50 years to “see” and not merely “look.” This has allowed him to capture a full visual spectrum of the region in a manner that is a unique hallmark of his creative and compassionate visual signature.

The photographs selected for this exhibition were taken from 1989 through 2015.