This exhibit in the Whittaker Gallery features photographs of life on the Lower East Side providing a vivid portrait of a haromonious ethnic neighbor during the pivitol years of change. Before and after World War II, with the need for factory and other workers, declining immigration from Eastern Europe, and the construction of low-income housing on the Lower East Side the neighbhorhood evolved. Lepkoff’s photographs record the rich ethnic mix of Puerto Ricans, African-Amerincans and East European Jews inacting in daily activities on the streets of the Lower East Side.

Rebecca Lepkoff has been eloquently documenting life on the Lower East Side since 1937 when she became involved with the Photo League. The 2006 publication of her monograph Life on the Lower East Side: Photographs by Rebecca Lepkoff, 1937-1950, has revived interest in her vintage street photographs.

Rebecca Lepkoff studied dance at the Educational Alliance as an adolescent before becoming interested in photography. As a young adult she returned to set up a darkroom and teach photography to teenagers at the Educational Alliance