Tony Velez
Tony Velez was born in the South Bronx, to Puerto Rican immigrants in 1946. Interested in photography from childhood, Velez studied photography at the New York High School of Art and Design between 1961 and 1964. He volunteered for the United States Army and served in Vietnam, with the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment. After he returned, he sought to understand the war and its implications to his own life. As a result, he joined Vietnam Veterans Against The War as a participant and photographer. His work has been exhibited and collected widely by El Museo del Barrio, The Brooklyn Museum of Art, The Municipal Art Society, The Bronx Museum of Art, and by The New York, Brooklyn and New Jersey Historical Societies. Since 1987 he has taught photography in the Fine Arts Department at Kean University in New Jersey, where he coordinates the “Arts Dialogue,” an artists’ lecture series, and the B.F.A. Photography program.
A Word to the Wise for Students:
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