An artist often navigates in a space bordered by observation and participation.

Documentary photographer Ken Karlewicz works in this delicate space where objectivity and intimacy can often overlap.

Karlewicz first focused his lens on Rockland County farmers during 1996-1998 while attending classes at New York’s International Center of Photography. The resulting photo essay entitled “The Final Harvest”, poignantly documents the end of the farm era here in Rockland.

Karlewicz’s ongoing studies at I.C.P. under Appalachian photographer Shelby Lee Adams, inspired his 1999 project “Roses in the Hollow”, which documents the lives of the last hill people of “Call Hollow”. His photo from the series entitled “Siblings” garnered him the Nikon award of excellence from the Missouri School of Journalism.

Long-term personal projects continued as Karlewicz spent the next five years on his “Faces of Haverstraw” series, which documents the colorful Hispanic community of Haverstraw. 

In 2004 Karlewicz was awarded his second County Executive Visual Artist Award for capturing the humanity, love and dignity of seven Hospice patients and their families, in his most recent essay “Journey Through Hospice”

Widely exhibited throughout the tri-state region, Karlewicz works has appeared in numerous publications including the New York Times, American Photographer, Hudson Valley Magazine and the photographic book America 24/7.

Karlewicz is now in his seventh year as photography instructor of the children’s after school program at the Art Alliance of Haverstraw, where he is cultivating a new generation of concerned documentary photographers.