ROY DeCARAVA  the sound I saw

David Zwirner presents Roy DeCarava: the sound i saw, a major exhibition exploring the photographer’s enduring fascination with the relationship between image and sound. Curated by Ebony L. Haynes, the presentation brings together more than 130 photographs created between the late 1940s and the 1960s, making it the largest showing of this body of work since its inaugural exhibition at the Studio Museum in Harlem in 1983.

DeCarava’s richly tonal black-and-white photographs move between everyday life in New York and intimate images of jazz musicians, capturing street corners, workers, children, dancers, and performers with an extraordinary sense of atmosphere. An adjacent presentation, SIDE B: the sounds, extends the experience through a listening room inspired by DeCarava’s personal playlists and favorite jazz recordings. The exhibition remains on view through October 31, 2026.