Danny Lyon’s work at the Frost Art Museum

Danny Lyon (Brooklyn, 1942) is a major figure in US documentary photography and New Journalism. His work is now on view in a solo exhibition at Florida International University's Frost Art Museum. Lyon graduated from the University of Chicago and began his career as a self-taught photographer in the 1960s. He was the first staff photographer for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, the national student organization formed after the first sit-in by four African-American students at a North Carolina lunchroom. His gaze and his camera were key in the recording of crucial moments in the history of the struggle for Civil Rights in the US South. Another iconic series by this pioneering figure in socially-aware photography—not exhibited at the Frost, but worth mentioning here—is Bikeriders, documenting his experiences after he joined the Chicago Outlaws motorcycle club and spent four years on the road across the country with them. Lyon's work portrays the life of the bikers, their families and their friends, revealing their deep passion that animates them. The Frost exhibition, titled Memories of the Southern Civil Rights Movement, is a testament to the incalculable richness of Lyon's work, exploring his immersion and active participation in the struggle against discrimination and for human rights. It will remain open through March 12th, 2016. For more information, visit: https://thefrost.fiu.edu/exhibitions/2016/danny-lyon.html