{"product_id":"upcoming-gallery-exhibition-212-with-lisa-leone-september-22-november-13","title":"Gallery Opening: \"212\" with Lisa Leone | October 2, 2026, 7 PM","description":"\u003cul class=\"tabs\"\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003ca href=\"#tab1\" class=\"active\"\u003eEvent Details\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003ca href=\"#tab2\"\u003eAbout 212\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003ca href=\"#tab3\"\u003eAbout Lisa Leone\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cul class=\"tabs-content\"\u003e\n\u003cli class=\"active\" id=\"tab1\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJoin us Friday, October 2nd, as we welcome Bronx-born photographer \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.thereallisaleone.com\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eLisa Leone\u003c\/a\u003e to Leica Store Miami for an exhibition of her earliest work — intimate, unguarded images of hip-hop's first generation, shot on the streets of New York, a city still finding its shape.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLeone started photographing in 1982 as a student at the High School of Art \u0026amp; Design, alongside classmates who would become some of hip-hop's earliest graffiti writers and dancers. Shooting on a Leica M6 and M4-P — quiet, unobtrusive cameras that let her stay close without ever getting in the way — she captured artists without studio polish: just the artist, the street, and the texture of a city she saw as beautiful even at its most broken. More than thirty years later, these images remain a rare, close look at a culture and a community before either fully knew what they were becoming.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCome see the work and hear the stories firsthand.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003chr\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: rgb(255, 42, 0);\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEXHIBITION DATES:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e September 22 - November 13, 2026\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: rgb(255, 42, 0);\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGALLERY OPENING:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e  Friday, October 2 at 7:00 PM.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003eThis gallery opening will be in conjunction with Coral Gables First Friday Gallery Nights. Learn more and plan your Gables Gallery Night at \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.coralgables.com\/events\/gables-gallery-night\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\"\u003ewww.coralgables.com\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLight refreshments will be served. Free and open to the public. \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: rgb(255, 42, 0);\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWHERE:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e  Leica Store Miami, 372 Miracle Mile, Coral Gables, Florida, 33134, United States (Paid street parking available, or, garage parking ($1.25\/hr) available behind the store located on Andalusia Ave across from Publix.)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli id=\"tab2\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSays Leone on \"212\": \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003e\"When I first began photographing, I was at the High School of Art \u0026amp; Design. It was 1982, and hip hop wasn’t yet a thing. NYC was deeply scarred, cash-strapped, and suffering from severe financial strain. The city was visually broke: decaying infrastructure, subways covered in graffiti. It was the peak of the “bad old days”. Yet, I saw the city as beautiful, rich with texture- like an Aaron Siskind photograph. At the time, Art \u0026amp; Design was nicknamed the High School of Graffiti \u0026amp; Breakdancing. The hottest graffiti writers and dancers from all five boroughs were my classmates- Mare 139, Fabel, Ence, Doze – I began photographing them. None of us knew yet that the way we were burning off stress, the way we were making something out of nothing, was about to reach and reshape the rest of the world. \u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0253\/1179\/files\/LL_fabelwiggles.jpg?v=1788380893\" alt=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003e\"By the early nineties, hip hop was in full effect. My friends were traveling the world- dancing on international stages, exhibiting in major galleries. The city was still gritty, but a beautiful new community was blossoming alongside it: rappers, journalists, filmmakers, all building, creating together. This is when my professional life took root. My goal was to capture artists essence. I wasn’t interested in the studio persona they presented to the world: I wanted something deeper, more intimate. I was interested in my subject’s inner life and how that’s expressed through the entirety of the image. Often when I photographed an artist, it would just be the two of us - no assistant, no lighting tech, nothing between us. I took them outside, to the street, to the texture — because that texture was part of them. It was what they were living, what informed them, and what informed me, every single day. There’s a vulnerability in that rawness that a studio can never capture. I shot color slides with a Leica M6 and an M4-P for b\/w - quiet, small, unobtrusive cameras that let me stay close without distracting. I wasn't there to interrupt what I was witnessing, what was being birthed. Once Snoop looked at a photo I'd taken of him from his first video shoot twenty years prior and said, \"I look so open, you don’t see pictures of me like that back then. I never let my guard down- you must have hip hop running through your veins”. \u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0253\/1179\/files\/LL_Snoopgum.jpg?v=1788295995\" alt=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\"Looking at these images now, more than thirty years later, I'm struck by how much of that era's rawness has vanished. A city and a community caught before either fully knew what they were becoming. I didn't set out to document history; I set out to see the people around me clearly, without pretense. That's still what I'm after every time I raise a camera.\"\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli id=\"tab3\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBronx-born \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.thereallisaleone.com\/\"\u003eLisa Leone\u003c\/a\u003e is an Emmy award winning director, a photographer and DP. She began her career as a photographer documenting early hip-hop, which she exhibits regularly. In 2015 her first monograph \u003cem\u003eHere I Am\u003c\/em\u003e was published by Minor Matters accompanied by an exhibit at The Bronx Museum. Lisa’s photos have been exhibited throughout the world, in solo and group shows, including the \"Contact High\" exhibit at ICP and \"50 Years of Hip-Hop\" at Fotografiska in NYC and Sweden. Lisa segued into cinematography, shooting music videos for artists TLC, Heavy D and D'Angelo. From there, Lisa went on to work with her mentor Stanley Kubrick on his last film \u003cem\u003eEyes Wide Shut\u003c\/em\u003e. Upon Kubrick’s death she dived into a deeper study between the relationship of cinema and imagery, continuing to focus on cinematography, shooting over ten independent feature films. Her debut film as writer, director, and cinematographer, \u003cem\u003eExactly\u003c\/em\u003e, starring Rosie Perez and Sarita Choudhury premiered at Tribeca, London and Sundance Film Festivals. She’s directed multiple episodes of television including, \u003cem\u003ePower Book III: Raising Kanan\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eGrey’s Anatomy\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eEast New York\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eBig Sky\u003c\/em\u003e. Lisa won a Suncoast Regional Emmy for her documentary on the late artist Christo and his \"Surrounded Islands\" project. “Remembering Surrounded Islands” was commissioned by The Pérez Art Museum.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.thereallisaleone.com\/\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;\"\u003ewww.thereallisaleone.com\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;\"\u003eIG: \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/thereallisaleone\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\"\u003e@thereallisaleone\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e","brand":"Leica Store Miami","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48055340892291,"sku":"LEONEGALLERY*261113","price":0.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0253\/1179\/files\/LL_LLCoolJcopy.jpg?v=1788296062","url":"https:\/\/leicastoremiami.com\/products\/upcoming-gallery-exhibition-212-with-lisa-leone-september-22-november-13","provider":"Leica Store Miami","version":"1.0","type":"link"}