Angel R. Ibañez
It was the start of the cold war and an arduous journey on his family, but the day after his mother arrived to American from Cadenas Cuba, Angel Ibañez was born. A pleasant surprise, his name meant Messenger, and he'd spend his childhood speaking his native tongue to both his mother and father, while happily learning english and adjusting to the exciting new lifestyle that New York City and the streets of Spanish Harlem had to offer.
A free spirit, Angel was a kind, multitalented, interesting young man stimulated by the life around him. He kept a sketch book tucked under his arm and a pen in his back pocket at all times studying the Old Masters, and the most seminal figures in Western art history like the Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Albrecht Durer to Caravaggio, Rembrandt, and Jacques-Louis David. He would graduate with a BA degree in Illustration from the School of Visual Arts in New York City.
When you ran into him in the neighborhood he'd also have his Lomo Diana 35mm film Camera slung over his shoulder moving the blue woven vintage camera strap forward to snap images of friends and local acquaintances. Prideful of the fact that he could develop his own film. Casual photography would eventually lead to celebrity portraitures from the likes of music legend James Brown to Rap stars Run DMC, Senator Ted Kennedy and Author Joseph Campbell to name a few. A highlight of Angel's career was assisting famed photographer William Giles, a photojournalist who documented the civil rights movement with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. They worked on the City Celebration of NYC a project called "Art for the People."
With a combination of street smarts and equip with an inquisitive mind, he'd quietly navigated spaces that many of his peers, including his family members would shy away from. In the 1950's he had his music chart and played on the radio. In the 1960's he'd serve his country in the U.S. Air Force. By the 1970's he'd reside on the Lower East Side of Manhattan's East Village where he continues to live today. By the 1980's he'd introduce an idea that would connect the good, with what many would consider the bad and ugly aspects of our culture.
Angel's ability to put people at ease, made him the perfect drug and rehabilitation counselor at E.N.T.E.R., in Harlem, NY. He was responsible for introducing the first "photography therapy program" in NYC, putting camera's into the hands of people suffering from addiction and understanding that having a voice through art would give an individual agency, power and a way to express their thoughts through the lens of a camera. You can read more about his experience in the book, The Impossible Dream, A History of Narcotics Anonymous in New York.
In 2018 Angel Ibañez was awarded a Certificate of Recognition from New York State
Senator Brain A. Benjamin.
"I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free. " - Michelangelo