Gallery Opening: Lisa Leone's "212"

Photographer Lisa Leone revisits New York’s early hip-hop scene through intimate images made before the culture became a global force. Opening Friday, October 2 at Leica Store Miami, 212 brings together photographs from the 1980s and early 1990s, with a live DJ set by producer Arthur Baker adding music from the era that shaped the work.

Leone began photographing classmates at New York’s High School of Art & Design in 1982, when graffiti writers and dancers including Mare 139, Fabel, Ence and Doze were part of her immediate circle. Using Leica M6 and M4-P cameras, she developed a close, unobtrusive style that favored streets and everyday environments over polished studio settings, capturing artists and collaborators within the city that informed them.

Her career later expanded into cinematography and directing, with work spanning music videos, independent film and television. Her photographs have appeared in exhibitions including Contact High at the International Center of Photography and 50 Years of Hip-Hop at Fotografiska, while her 2015 monograph Here I Am further documented her early hip-hop photography. The opening offers a chance to see that formative body of work alongside stories from Leone’s years documenting the culture as it took shape.