Shortly after the above photograph taken by Brooklyn-based photographer, Boogie was taken in Bushwick, soon after a gang shooting occurred. The hung rat was a warning sign that the Latin Kings (a well known Hispanic New York street gang) put up for the “snitch” (“rat”) that they sought out to kill.

Boogie, a Brooklyn based photographer, is well known for documenting these kinds of situations and people in his work. He was born in Belgrade, Serbia during the civil war there in the 1990’s. After winning a lottery visa he moved to the United States not knowing what to expect. He settled in the ghettos of New York with no money and a camera.

Living in these areas, he was always close to those who exist on the fringe of society and photographs them in relatively intimate ways. His work is simple and alluring, and at the same time stark, powerful, and moving. The dark and profound subject matter, which ranges from gangsters, drug addicts and junkies, skinheads, and the homeless, is shot in a beautiful and personal way. One can only imagine what it would be like to be photographing a dangerous stranger while he has a loaded gun pointed at your face, or trying to shoot a picture of a mother while she tries to stick a needle in her arm to get high when her child can be heard just around the corner.

Boogie has quite the reputation now through his original work and many are not able to get close enough to photograph the subject matter that he seems to do so easily. Even if they were allowed “in”, most people would probably avoid the “darker side of human existence” that Boogie is so drawn to.

Boogie has published 5 books already and exhibited at numerous galleries, and his latest collaboration with the clothing line Altamont is about to release. Altamont is an independent driven clothing company that collaborates with a “diverse group of creative outcasts” who live by the manifesto, “Find a job you love and you’ll never have to work a day in your life”. A very interesting collaboration.

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Boogie’s work can be viewed here: http://www.artcoup.com/

And his collaboration with Altamont along with a couple great video interviews can be seen here: http://altamontapparel.com/boogie-part1/

via Manuel, 21 March 2009 11:22am | |