PHOTOS | ‘Everyday Bronx’ captures borough life at Bronx Documentary Center exhibit

The Bronx Documentary Center (BDC) has been around since 2011, but the building it sits in has lived on the corner of 151st Street and Courtlandt Avenue since 1872. On Friday, March 31, the BDC celebrated the opening night of their newest photo exhibition with drinks, a live graffiti painting and breakdancers. The exhibit, “Everyday Bronx,” aims to archive the borough while also showcasing the people that live and work in it, while simultaneously uplifting the Bronx from its muddied reputation. The show runs through May 14. Photo ET Rodriguez

Of the hundreds of photos on display, many were taken with cellphones, just like Alex Rivera is pictured doing. Rivera is a photographer who runs the Instagram account @thebronxer, which has more than 8,000 followers. Photographer Ashanti Muniz, pictured alongside Rivera, came to the event with the hopes of finding “All the Bronx photographers,” she said. Photo ET Rodriguez

The “Everyday Bronx” exhibit at the BDC is possible thanks to the Instagram account by the same name. Everyday Bronx was launched in 2014 as a photography workshop for elementary school children and quickly turned into a communal effort. Instagram users like Jason Young aka @i.den.t.t., can also have their images featured by using #everydaybronx and also tagging the @everydaybronx account. Photo Jason Young aka @i.den.t.t.

Alfred “Pollo” Perez flies through the air as he breakdances at the BDC. “I’ve been dancing my whole life,” said Pollo, but it first started with salsa, bachata and merengue at home. When he got to high school, he saw kids breakdancing and thought the “moves feel familiar” to what he’s always known. After high school, he became serious about breakdancing and studied under legends like Floor Phantom and Alien Ness. Photo ET Rodriguez

As part of the exhibit, not only were there photos on the walls and on computer screens inside of the BDC, but they were also projected onto the wall of a house nearby. The projector was on a loop and featured dozens of different photos every 10 seconds. “This exhibition shows that you don’t have to have a fancy camera to make history. If you have a cell phone, you can make long-lasting art,” said Rhynna Santos, curator of the “Everyday Bronx” exhibit and manager of the @everydaybronx Instagram account. Photo ET Rodriguez

Kay Love completed the graffiti mural within a couple of hours. “Everyday Bronx” is not just an exhibition of photos, it is a celebration of the borough and its people that aims to spotlight the creativity that exists. The exhibit showcases the people of the Bronx in an effort to help counteract the negative perceptions that have come to identify the borough. “It’s important that Bronxites exercise their own agency, too,” said Santos. Photo ET Rodriguez