CONSTANT | CONSTANTE  

  CONSTANT  |  CONSTANTE  

Manny Cantor Center Educational Alliance

Lobby Gallery

197 East Broadway, NYC 10002

October 25 - December 15, 2023

Artist Reception

Friday, November 10, 2023

6-8PM

CONSTANT | CONSTANTE emerges as a photographic journey through the lens of Marlis Momber and Maylyn “Zero” Iglesias, venerable artist-activists entrenched in the heartbeat of the Lower East Side, NYC. Illuminating impermanence, their photographs transcend time, resurrecting vanished fragments of the LES, echoing in their minds. From the early 1970s to the present, each image is a testament to the ongoing battles for space and culture, a visual narrative where resilient families thrive amidst the upheaval.

The frames unveil the dichotomy of the Lower East Side – Momber's haunting silhouettes, a ballet of smokestacks and cranes, converse with Iglesias's rosary beads, gracefully dangling on scaffolding. Gentrification's reach, captured in fleeting moments, becomes palpable through their lenses. The Nuyorican culture, a vivid tapestry in their work, emerges as a silent rebellion against the homogeneity of change. 

Marlis and Maylyn, artists intertwined in friendship and mentorship, epitomize the ceaseless spirit of the LES. Their shared journey, a visual call and response, paints a portrait of beautiful brown bodies and big city blocks blending from one scene to the next. The documentation of a whole era in one long spirited day captured in Marlis’s portrait of four local guys hanging out in a vacant lot that foreshadow Maylyn’s recent image of a mural depicting similar characters hidden in the shadows of a lush garden that reads, “La Lucha Continua. The Struggle Continues.” 

CONSTANT | CONSTANTE mirrors the evolving neighborhood and the strong bond between these artists. This exhibition is the first time they present work together after working closely with Loisaida, Inc. These selected works add to the storied lineage of powerful female artists that have taken a defiant stance against ill-intentioned development. Facilitated by the Loisaida Center Cultural Archives, the duo's energy propels them into a dialogue with the past, preserving a visual heritage over 50 years in the making. United against the eroding tide of change, CONSTANT | CONSTANTE is a testament to the unwavering spirit of the Lower East Side and the unyielding power of artistic collaboration.

This event was co-curated and organized by AWWW Collective members Bashira Webb, Cher Scott, Mark Nevers and Danny R. Peralta.

Additional support provided by ICP at THE POINT  CDC, Tiffany Williams, Lacy Austin (ICP), Frank Fournier (Contact Press) and Miguel Anaya.

About the Loisaida Center Cultural Archives

Marlis Momber's photographs, provided by Loisaida, Inc. and the Loisaida Center Cultural Archives, are copyrighted and cannot be reproduced in any format without prior written or verbal concern from its author. Loisaida, Inc. programs and the Loisaida Center Cultural Archives is funded in part by the Department of Youth and Community Development, in partnership with the City Council and the support of Councilmembers Carlina Rivera and Chris Marte.

About Marlis Momber

Born in 1943 in Berlin, Germany, Marlis Momber has lived in Loisaida since 1975. Her photographs document the struggle of the mostly Puerto Rican people living in that part of Manhattan. Her B&W and Color Photographs have been used to illustrate national and international publications on political and cultural topics such as: gentrification, urban development, slum lords/arson for profit, squatting, affordable housing/homesteading, cultural identity, education, the arts, drugs and urban crime.

To listen to Marlis Momber tell her story, visit Learn Village Preservation for an indepth interview.  

About Maylyn “Zero” Iglesias

Maylyn ‘Zero’ Iglesias is a Nuyorican photographer and curator born and raised on the Lower East Side in New York City. She finds her images by walking (sometimes all night), fascinated by the things people do and leave behind and the endlessly creative ways they find to exist in the world. 

Iglesias' work is focused on her beloved Loisaida with the aim of documenting her community while finding a way to stay connected to her roots and representing the often unseen or rarely mentioned remnants of Nuyorican life that once thrived so boldly in her youth that has almost completely disappeared. She is a self-taught photographer who recently graduated from LaGuardia Community College with an Associates A.S. Degree in Commercial Photography. Iglesias' early sensibilities were formed in New York City by 1980s graffiti, hip hop, punk and her mother’s salsa and Supremes records.

Her camera also acts as a coping mechanism. After years of battling addiction, it's now the camera she turns to for solace by exploring and creating physical, tangible ways to make photographic images using analog and digital photography. Iglesias thrives on creating something from nothing: photography allows her the space to explore and create a visual disturbance in the viewer’s imagination. 

Iglesias’ work has been shown in New York City at Manny Cantor Center, Loisaida Center Inc, ABC No Rio in Exile via Chashama, at Theater for the New City, The Clemente, Rivington Music Rehearsal Studios, Cameras for Science Exhibit at LaGuardia Community College, and featured in Brooklyn vs. Hackney at Hackney Picture House, London. 

Her personal project, “What’s It Mean to be Nuyorican” was added to LaGuardia Wagner Archives in 2021. During that time she joined the Loisaida Center to head their newly launched archive program. Iglesias is currently working on archiving legendary Lower East Side photographer Marlis Momber’s collection of photographs that span five decades of documenting the LES.  Last year, frustrated by the lack of representation of artists in her community, Iglesias began curating group shows. The most recent exhibition, UPROOTED, opened in October 2023. 

About Loisaida, Inc.

Loisaida, Inc. stands firm on its original mission – Address the serious economic and social disenfranchisement of poor and low income Latino residents, with employment and training opportunities, comprehensive youth development initiatives, as well as neighborhood revitalization activities that positively highlight the rich culture, heritage, and contribution of the Puerto Rican and Latin American community in this City.

About Manny Cantor Center Educational Alliance

The Manny Cantor Center is part of Educational Alliance, a non-profit that brings together and partners with diverse communities in Lower Manhattan, offering individuals and families high-quality, multi-generational programs and services that enhance their well-being and socioeconomic opportunities. MCC is a place where everyone is welcome and where progress is powered one relationship at a time. MCC is proud of its legacy as a Jewish organization and provides high-quality, transformational services and programs to all New Yorkers through a network of community centers on Manhattan’s Lower East Side and East Village. 

For more information

Manny Cantor Center - www.mannycantor.org

Loisaida Center - https://loisaida.org/

Loisaida Center Cultural Archives - https://loisaida.org/cultural-archives/ 

AWWW Collective - www.awwwcollective.org

For press inquiries email info@awwwcollective.com or call 917-865-6398.

Images from Exhibition & Artist Reception

Want to learn more about the Lower East Side? 

Check out these art, photography, poetry, and historical narratives from your local library or book store.

Resource list supported by the Seward Park NYPL.

- Trictionary: English, Chinese and Spanish. Written by A.R.T.S. Inc.

- David Wojnarowicz: A definitive history of five or six years on the Lower East Side. Interviews by Sylvere Lotringer. Edited by Giancarlo Ambrosino.

- Rivington School: 80's New York Underground. Photography by Toyo Tsuchiya, Edited by Itsvan Kantor.

- Toward a People’s Art: The contemporary mural movement. Written by Eva Cockcroft, John Weber, and James Cockcroft. 

- Women at Work: 153 Photographs by Lewis W. Hine.  Edited by Jonathan L. Doherty.

- The Nuyorican Experience: Literature of the Puerto Rican Minority. Written by Eugene V. Mohr.

- Nuyorican Poetry: An Anthology of Puerto Rican Words and Feelings. Edited by Miguel Algarín and Miguel Piñero. Photographs by Gil Mendez. 

- All Poets Welcome: The Lower East Side Poetry Scene in the 1960s. Written by Daniel Kane.  

- Tompkins Square Park. Photographs by Q. Sakamaki. 

- Immigrant Women in the Land of Dollars. Life and Culture on the Lower East Side 1890-1925. Written by Elizabeth Ewen. 

- A Living Lens. Photographs of Jewish Life from the Pages of The Forward. Edited by Alana Newhouse. 

- The Hill. Photographs by Gabrielle Schafer

- Chinatown. Lens of the Lower East Side. By the Lower East Side Preservation Initiative (L.E.S.P.I.). 

- Low Rent Low Rent. A Decade of Prose and Photographs from The Portable Lower East Side. Edited by Kurt Hollander. 

- Resistence. A Radical Social and Political History of the Lower East Side. Edited by Clayton Patterson. 

- East Village. Lens of the Lower East Side. Features Marlis Momber photography.  By the Lower East Side Preservation Initiative (L.E.S.P.I.). 

- The Educational Alliance. A Centennial Celebration. Written by Adam Bellow.

- Beyond The Melting Point. The Negroes, Puerto Ricans, Jews, Italians and Irish of New York.  Written by Nathan Glazer and Daniel P. Moinahan. 

- How the Other Half Lives. Photos by Jacob Riis.