Jessica Lehrman's photographic document of social revolution, Black Lives Matter and Occupy Wall Street

Shot on the streets of New York during the passionate struggle of protestors coming face to face with the establishment sworn to protect them, Jessica Lehrman’s latest and ongoing series Revolution tackles some of the most contentious and emotionally charged issues, including Occupy Wall Street, the fallout of Hamilton and most recently Black Lives Matter.

The shallow depth of field used, focusing sometimes on key sights and sometimes on incidental curiosities, drives home the fact that the series has been shot very much amid the moment and the passionate desperation for causes that rightly refuses to simmer down.

The shots are dynamic and dramatic, the black and white tones augmenting urgency and vehemence of the fervour in the streets. Signs reading “This is resistance”, “Who are you protecting?” and “Ferguson everywhere” are glimpsed within the photographs, which otherwise focus on the people and the atmosphere of the scenes.

Jessica Lehrman is a photographer fascinated with capturing the action and emotion of social movements on the streets of New York, and contributes frequently in the fields of both current affairs and popular culture to the likes of The New York Times, Rolling Stone and Vanity Fair.

We previously featured Vincent Chapters who covered the Black Lives Matter demonstrations as they moved through the streets of London. It’s worth comparing the disparate atmosphere of the passionate crowds in the two cities, captured as social document by the two photographers in their varying styles.