Dave Heath

In Dave Heath’s picture from Kansas City, three young women gaze forward gloomily in spite of the new purchases they hold. In the image taken in New York, a girl looks anxiously upward, alone in a field of black.

These photographs exemplify Heath’s street photography, in which he examined the human psyche within the context of urban public spaces. Traveling throughout America, he caught individuals as they went about their daily lives, emphasizing a sense of solitude and isolation. Despite this melancholic tone, Heath saw his work as life affirming, revealing an “acceptance of life’s tragic aspects.”