Between School and Home

  • Emily Jan
  • June 19, 2016
  • 20 Photos
  • Spotlight

After a fatal shooting involving teenagers in her Brooklyn neighborhood, the photographer Cassandra Giraldo remembers how the media described them: “‘Thugs,’ ‘hooligans,’ ‘gang members,’” she recalled. “It was insulting for me to read.” Giraldo also knows better; the New York City-based photographer has been documenting urban youth culture since 2011 on Instagram as part of “The After School Project.” From skateboard tricks on car-lined streets to boredom outside the 7/11, Giraldo’s images capture an intimate look at the fleeting romances, friendships, and attitudes of teens as they come of age in the country’s largest school district.  “These young people navigate a racially charged urban society,” Giraldo said. “This small window of time in the after school hours is theirs to take ownership of.”

Read more
Hints: View this page full screen. Skip to the next and previous photo by typing j/k or ←/→.

Most Recent

  • Marcia Straub / Getty
    • In Focus
    • 12:44 PM ET
    • 31 Photos

    Indiana: Images of the Hoosier State

    A few glimpses into the various features of Indiana, and some of the animals and people calling it home

  • Simon Bruty for OIS / IOC Handout via Reuters
    • In Focus
    • January 24, 2020
    • 35 Photos

    Photos of the Week: Impeachment Trial, Virtual Singer, Bat Clinic

    The annual Women’s March in New York City, the Tour Down Under cycling event in Australia, a firefighting robot in India, anti-government protests in Iraq, the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics in Switzerland, and much more.

  • Carl Court / Getty
    • In Focus
    • January 22, 2020
    • 15 Photos

    Juhyo: The Snow Monsters on Japan’s Mount Zao

    Windblown ice and snow build up hulking shapes on the trees atop Mount Zao.

  • Eloisa Lopez / Reuters
    • In Focus
    • January 21, 2020
    • 24 Photos

    The Colorless Landscape Around Taal Volcano

    In the Philippines, parts of the landscape near Taal have gone completely gray, covered in a blanket of volcanic ash.

Most Popular on The Atlantic

  1. The Muslim World’s Question: ‘What Happened to Us?’
  2. Cancel Earthworms
  3. Two Jews Walk Into a Presidential Primary
  4. America Is Overrun With Bathrooms
  5. Why Journalists Believe Mary Louise Kelly
  6. Here’s What Trump Has Been Up to While Americans Have Been Distracted by Impeachment
  7. Martin Luther King Jr.’s ‘Letter From Birmingham Jail’
  8. Obama’s 2016 Warning: Trump Is a ‘Fascist’
  9. Why Is Joe Rogan So Popular?
  10. The Responsibility to Counter China’s Ambitions Falls to Us
Back to Top