New York City Rising: Protests, Rallies, & Police Riots, 2020-2021

Ruvan Wijesooriya

New York City Rising: Protests, Rallies, & Police Riots, 2020-2021 is a collection of images shot by Ruvan Wijesooriya from May 2020 to May 2021 during the police riots and protests surrounding the murder of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement. The chronological story begins with the police riots in Chinatown and Barclay’s Center on May 29th and ends with the anniversary of George Floyd's murder. It offers a foreground, a middle, and a background for the breadth of the movement, and reveals a sincere fascination with and dedication to defining the city—his home for two decades—as he captures a transformation.

Ruvan Wijesooriya is known for his interactive exhibitions and his photography in music, fashion, and nightlife—much of it being captured in motion and relating to cultural evolution, youth rebellion, appropriation, and re-use of public space. After being paid a kill fee by a national magazine when he turned in his photos of the police riots, Ruvan knew the real story was not being told. He began shooting for a range of protest organizations. The result is this visual story about NYC during the biggest uprising in American history.

New York City Rising includes contributions from Qween Jean, K.O. Nnamdie, Shawn Batey, and Enos Nyamor.

Ruvan lives and works in NYC and travels whenever he can. He helped manage and contributed to the upcoming Revolution is Love book by Aperture. His other books include Greetings from Sweden, Yearbook Afghanistan, LCD [Soundsystem], Yucatan, All Night New York, and Masculinism. He has been published in The New Yorker, the New York Times, New York Magazine, Vogue, Elle, Time, and others.