East Village, Our Village

Rebecca Lepkoff Rebecca Lepkoff, who passed away in August at the age of 98, covered an earlier Lower East Side. She was truly a pioneer, creating a body of work showing us the years before the real devastation — when it was simply a poor community of primarily Jewish and black immigrants, with just the beginnings of the Puerto Rican and island diaspora which our other photographers so richly covered. It was a great joy to have her be able to witness and participate in a revival of interest in her photography, much of it due to the work of historian and filmmaker Suzanne Wasserman. We took students from The Lower Eastside Girls Club to see her in a group show at Tompkins Square Library a few years ago, and I got to meet and hear her speak just last year at the Seward Park Library. She was witty, generous with her time and excited about having her work shown at The Lower Eastside Girls Club. At the end of the night, in what I have now heard is typical Rebecca behavior, she refused a ride home to her Upper Westside apartment, insisting on taking the subway as usual! The streets and its people were her home and source of creative energy.

Curator’s Note: Lyn Pentecost