“Camera Girl”: a dive into the New York nights of the 1980s

With “Camera Girl”, Sharon Smith offers us an unprecedented, intimate retrospective of the New York nightlife scene of the 1980s, where celebrities and the anonymous rubbed shoulders in an atmosphere of freedom and extravagance.

New York’s legendary clubs, such as the Ritz, Studio 54 and the Palladium, were places of effervescence, creativity and transgression. It was in these temples to partying that Sharon Smith, a young photographer armed with her Polaroid SX-70, immortalized the faces of this unbridled era for three dollars. Anonyms, celebrities and figures from various subcultures took their place in front of her lens, creating a series of raw, iconic images now collected in the book “Camera Girl”, published by Idea.

Clubs, catalysts of an era

At the time, New York was a paradoxical city, combining creative energy and social brutality. Nightclubs became havens for marginalized communities, offering a space for expression and experimentation. According to Sharon Smith, these places represented a nocturnal tribe where notions of race, gender or social status dissolved, giving way to an ephemeral unity carried by music and dance.

The book, with its burgundy cover and 144 pages, is a time capsule capturing this singular era. Sharon recounts her encounters with legendary figures such as Grace Jones, David Bowie and Madonna, and the spontaneity of those moments. One of her most memorable anecdotes features Grace Jones, who, after a knowing glance, murmured a simple “Thank you, my love” before disappearing onto the dance floor.

A tribute to freedom and excess

Sharon Smith’s photographs are not just party memories, but also testaments to the diversity and resilience of communities. In an interview included in the book, she talks about the importance of clothes and attitude in integrating these closed worlds, where creativity and excess were the watchwords.

With only a thousand copies available, “Camera Girl” is a precious edition, bringing together fragments from a bygone era when night was synonymous with freedom, excess and unity.

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