Iconic New York City street photographer Flo Fox, 79, passed away on March 2, 2025.
Born on Sept. 26, 1945 as Florence Blossom Fox, Flo Fox was a photographer, mother, disability advocate, and more to those who knew her.
Back in October of 2013, PetaPixel shared the inspirational story of largely self-taught New York City (NYC) street photographer Flo Fox; the story includes a short documentary by the New York Times (NYT). The video “Flo: Portrait of a Street Photographer” by Riley Hooper shows what life and photography was like for Fox. In the video, she explained how she purchased her first camera at the age of 26 and carried it with her every day from then on.
While a relatable story and similar start to photography as many, Flo Fox’s life and photographic journey were far from ordinary. Born blind in one eye, in late 1975 to early ‘76 her vision declined drastically, a year later she was walking with a cane, then a wheelchair. Finally a neurologist diagnosed her with multiple sclerosis at the age of 30. By 1999 the paralyzation fully affected her from the neck down. Then, in the NYT documentary, she shared her latest diagnosis with lung cancer “the Big C.”
Despite all of these health challenges, Flo Fox created an illustrious career as a true street photographer. Her keen eye shared raw, real, and overlooked moments of life in NYC. In addition to portraits, and wider scenes of life in the city, she also shared more intimate imagery documenting what it was like living in the city as a disabled person.
To assist with her photographic process, Flo Fox leaned on attendants, friends, and even strangers to help create the acclaimed photographs, works that she noticed even with her impaired vision. In the NYT documentary, she described her vision as if there are thick stockings over her eyes, like nets, difficult to see and especially to read through. As she talked, the video showed Fox exploring the streets of New York City in her wheelchair. She was accompanied by a nurse or attendant. When Fox noticed a composition, she pointed it out to her attendant, directing the helper exactly where to stand and what to photograph.
This collaborative process amassed an archive of her work which spans over 130,000 images. So profound and full of depth, her photographs are in the permanent collection of the Brooklyn Museum and the Smithsonian. Her work has appeared in Life Magazine, New York Magazine as well as exhibits in Paris, London, Barcelona, and Mexico.
Aside from her photography, Fox was full of personality and even hosted her own show in the 1980s called the Foto Flo Show. In it, she interviewed other photographers, most notably Ruth Orkin and Ralph Gibson. She was also featured on the Regis and Kathy Lee Show as well as several other talk shows and articles about her career.
Several years ago, Flo Fox arranged some of her photographs to music and posted them on YouTube. She also posted clips from her Foto Flo Show.
As a disability advocate, Fox taught photography classes at Lighthouse for the Blind, helping visually impaired students.
A figure in the New York City street photography scene and disability advocate, Flo Fox leaves behind a legacy that she had described to Curbed as a “tough cookie,” who gave voice to the disabled, and created a lifetime of iconic imagery despite any challenge that she faced.
Image credits: Photograph of Flo Fox in 1994, by Gigi Stoll. CC BY-SA 4.0.
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