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The Bronx came undone due to a confluence of unfortunate circumstances: rampant city planning, economic change, racism, drugs, crime, and the government's counterproductive response to it all. By 1979, the Bronx had almost stopped burning, but the intensity and extent of the devastation permeated the landscape. It was an awesome mess, shocking to behold, yet incomprehensible.

That year, photographer Lisa Kahane set off to record the state of the Bronx before its past faded into obscurity. Over the next eight years, Kahane repeatedly returned to New York's northernmost borough to document the ruins that, left untended, could overwhelm the future.

As it turns out, Kahane had a good time in the Bronx. People smiled at her and said, "Throw me a photo!" Few objected to having their picture taken and no one tried to take her camera away. Rather, the community wanted its story told.

The result, Do Not Give Way to Evil: Photographs of the South Bronx, 1979-1987, published by powerHouse Books this month, is an extraordinary document of devastation and rejuvenation.

A native New Yorker, Kahane was educated at Barnard College, Columbia University, and the New York Studio School, and she has also worked in Europe and Central and South America. Kahane's photos have been shown at the Bronx Museum and the Whitney Museum of American Art. She runs a photography and autobiography workshop for at-risk kids.

Lisa Kahane
Image from Do Not Give Way to Evil
Courtesy powerHouse Books

View more images! Take a look at Artkrush's most recent slideshow and Activate's The Week in Pictures.