1970s

Latest Stories

What Christopher Gregory-Rivera Discovered in Puerto Rico’s State Secrets

For decades, US officials sought to suppress independence movements in Puerto Rico, spying on activists and their families. What do their formerly secret files reveal?

How One Photographer Documented Ghana’s Transformations

Gerald Annan-Forson portrayed Ghana in the 1970s from an intimate perspective, telling a spectacular story of political and social change.

Remembering the Energy, Emotion, and Sensuality of Larry Fink’s Photography

Fink, who died in November, moved easily between society galas and Pennsylvania farms—and his work was always full of the push and pull of life.

A Screenwriter’s Forgotten Photographs of American Televisions

In the 1970s, Dennis Feldman photographed living rooms across the country. What do his images of TVs reveal about the national consciousness?

The Quest to Protect the Father of Ivorian Photography

Paul Kodjo’s edgy photographs of nightlife and youth culture in Ivory Coast resisted cultural norms of the 1970s. They almost disappeared forever.
A solarized, red and yellow toned photograph of two figures kissing

The Photographers Who Envisioned Queer History and Resistance

An exhibition showcases artists and collectives that built queer image cultures with lasting influence.

The Struggle for Survival in the Amazon

Claudia Andujar has advocated for the Yanomami people throughout her career. In a major exhibition, her photographs coexist with Indigenous voices.

The Cutting Cleverness of Martha Rosler’s Collages

The feminist artist’s early photomontages from the 1960s and ’70s present a world both striking and deeply familiar in its critique of patriarchy and consumerism.
Ralph Eugene Meatyard, Untitled, 1960

How Photographers in the 1970s Redefined the Medium

Capturing the cultural grain of the times, artists from Ralph Eugene Meatyard to William Eggleston carefully navigated the shifting lines between tradition and transformation.
Marilyn Nance, Mid-festival, the first contingent of FESTAC ’77 U.S. participants greets the second U.S. contingent at the Lagos airport, 1977

When the Party Came to Lagos

In 1977, when the photographer Marilyn Nance traveled to Nigeria for FESTAC, she discovered a euphoric reunion of the African Diaspora.
Sibylle Bergemann, Frieda, Berlin, 1982

Sibylle Bergemann’s Striking Photographs of Postwar Germany

Working in fashion and reportage, the photographer cultivated a distinctive visual language. Her retrospective is a window into history in Berlin.

Michael Jang's American Dream

The photographer revisits his deeply funny and idiosyncratic images of suburbs, celebrities, and California in the 1970s.
Sunil Gupta, Untitled #22, 1976

Christopher Street Revisited

In the 1970s, Sunil Gupta photographed moments of desire and liberation in New York’s gay capital.

Black and White America

The civil rights-era photographs of Louis Draper and Leonard Freed shed light on the complex lives of African Americans.

The Renegade Video Artist

In the late 1970s, Mary Lucier pointed her camera at the sun and broke the rules of a new medium.

The Pleasure of the Text

Merging images and words, conceptual artists in the 1970s advanced a new visual language.

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Aperture 254

Aperture Releases “Counter Histories,” Produced with Magnum Foundation Spring Issue Presents Photographers Who Uncover Personal and Political Histories (New York—March 6, 2024) What creative possibilities are offered by the gaps, absences, and silences in historical records? This spring, Aperture magazine presents “Counter Histories,” an issue produced in collaboration with Magnum Foundation and informed by their…