Author Description

Each Christmas between 1988 and 1998, photographer Barry Lewis traveled to South Beach, Miami, to trade the harsh London winter for a tropical paradise. There he photographed the diverse (and eccentric) people who made up the community: fashionistas, newly-arrived Cubans (following the Meriel exodus in 1980), Jewish retirees from New York, drag queens and the gay population who flocked to ultra-cool Ocean Drive for the party scene. Lewis' images capture the vibrancy of an area coming back to life after years of crime, drugs, and violence.