Scenes from the streets: international stories told on the ground – in pictures

The work of over 30 street photographers has been assembled for We Are Here: Scenes from the Streets, a new exhibition showing at the International Center of Photography in New York City. A mixture of cultural and personal narratives around the world from Baltimore to Algiers are on display until 6 January 2025

A protest for Freddie Gray in downtown Baltimore, Maryland, 2015

‘I want to show those intimate moments that everyone misses and things that I see every single day’ – Devin Allen

Photograph: Courtesy of Devin Allen

When Two Worlds Cross, Fort Greene, Brooklyn, 2013

‘It’s one thing to speak to my friends but I wanted to speak to a little bit of everybody and having the camera was like a key that allowed me entry into the minds of people to find out what’s going on’ – Jamal Shabazz

Photograph: Courtesy of Jamal Shabazz

Union Square, New York, 1984

‘I photographed the city with my taxi cab, as a humanist and social documentary photographer’ - Joseph Rodríguez

Photograph: Courtesy of Joseph Rodríguez

Cartwheels of Pushkar, 2022

‘Photography has given wings to my inner-soul that is very shy in nature and introverted’ – Debrani Das

Photograph: Courtesy of Debrani Das

Bowery, Chinatown, New York, 1982

Corky Lee photographed Lily Chow, the first Chinese American woman to drive a cab in New York. He has described his camera as a ‘sword against injustice’.

Photograph: Courtesy of the estate of Corky Lee

Gentleman on Fifth Avenue, New York City, 1997

‘Street photography is a record of how we were/are, the styles, cultures, community, the streets, telling the stories of our lives” – Janette Beckman

Photograph: Courtesy of Janette Beckman

Protesters clash with riot officers in Hong Kong before the flag raising ceremony to mark the 22nd anniversary of handover to China in 2019

‘Telling news stories to the most common people is the greatest influence we can have’ – Lam Yik Fei

Photograph: Courtesy of Lam Yik Fei

Girls dancing to disco music from nearby bar, Lower East Side, NYC, 1978

‘I’m always interested in seeing how people publicly and creatively deal with their environment’ – Martha Cooper

Photograph: Courtesy of Martha Cooper

Panne Sèche, 2004

‘When I make a piece of art, the jerrycan can be a metaphor to represent somebody, a metaphor for indicating people, people with different kinds of colors, different kinds of marks, different kinds of forms’ – Romuald Hazoumè

Photograph: Courtesy of the Romuald Hazoumè and October Gallery, London

Algiers, 2014

‘When you come to the world as a group of people with certain beliefs, you are taken more seriously’ – Youcef Krache

Photograph: Courtesy of Youcef Krache and Collective 220

Screened Pictures X #153, 2023

‘Since I began photographing people, places and things, I created a kind of diary in the form of a camera which kept me in touch with the real world’ – Anthony Hernandez

Photograph: Courtesy Anthony Hernandez and Yancey Richardson

Thanksgiving ceremony, Cannon Ball, North Dakota, 2016

‘I define street photography as a grassroots form of artistic expression that reveals everyday life in public spaces’ – Josué Rivas

Photograph: Josué Rivas

Paris Street View #48, 2010

‘One of Wolf’s aims was to create a visual encyclopedia of vernacular culture in the world’s metropolises envisioned as a legacy for future generations’ – the estate of Michael Wolf

Photograph: Courtesy the Estate of Michael Wolf

White Dresses, St Petersburg, 1995

The constant interaction with Russia’s harsh reality helped me to decide that photography would be from that point onwards my most urgent duty in life’ - Alexey Titarenko

Photograph: Courtesy of Alexey Titarenko and Nailya Alexander Gallery, New York, NY