New York Days presents photographs by Maï Lucas. Arriving by chance in 1986, Lucas spent nearly two decades photographing Black communities across Harlem, East New York, Jamaica Queens, and the Heights. From the block, the stoop, and the car hood, her archive records the birth of hip-hop and the textures of everyday life: groups bound in love, hustle, and heat. Returning to the same blocks and light year after year, Lucas adopted the city as it adopted her. These photographs are a cartography of presence and belonging.
