“The world of the adolescent is totally interlaced within itself and incapable of freeing itself…it whirls, rolls, and engulfs what it is allowed to engulf.” — Joseph Sterling
When Sterling began taking these photos in his native El Paso, he was just 23. The series, which ends in 1964, includes Chicago teens too.
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“He got roughed up, and then they turned around and gave him a couple of dollars to bring back pictures of themselves”, said Paul Berlanga of Chicago’s Stephen Daiter Gallery, which carries Sterling’s work.
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“You know how these greasers could be,” said Bob Tanner, a filmmaker/photographer that knew Sterling, “but you know, he was a big guy, and he was persistent, and after a while, they left him alone. He just became a fly on the wall.”
From his spot on the wall, or on the windshield, he had a pretty good view…