RAY PARADA / Somewhere below 14th & east: the lost photography of Karen O'Sullivan (book) Radio raheem
In the early 1980s, Karen O’Sullivan made her way from where she grew up on Manhattan’s Upper West Side to the then-desolate Lower East Side to photograph the burgeoning scenes of Hardcore Punk and Hip Hop. Barring some of her images appearing in fanzines at the time, and in Steven Blush’s American Hardcore book published in the early 2000s, her matchless take on the grit and energy of this era have remained virtually an unsung documentation.
Somewhere Below 14th & East is the first collection of Karen’s photos, compiling over 150 images of artists as diverse as The Clash, Run DMC, Iggy Pop, Beastie Boys, Minor Threat, UTFO, The Misfits and Whodini as well as the various characters and ne'er-do-wells brave enough to witness history in the making. With its combination of O’Sullivan’s striking imagery and first-hand accounts by those who were there, Somewhere Below 14th & East chronicles an extraordinary time where boundless possibility and stifling desperation intersected to create one of the most vital and creative times in New York’s history.
