Bronx Boys

Bronx Boys  is an intimate photo essay about the lives of young people in the Bronx during the  1980s, and 90s. It takes the viewer inside the lives of young men living at the epicenter of a heroine and crack cocaine epidemic that devastated their community. The story tracks their childhood on the streets, their loves and losses, their struggles to survive, and their desire for home and family amidst chaos.


Bronx Boys includes a courageous and powerful first person narrative, "My Memories" by Martin Dones, one of the young men Shames followed and who survived life on the streets. 


Stephen Shames shot Bronx Boys over a period of 20 years, following a few of the boys as they grew into adulthood. In an interview with photojournalist and publisher Svetlana Bachevanova , Shames relates his experience with this project, beginning with an assignment for Look magazine and leading to long standing friendships with some of his subjects.