Above the Corner of
Fulton and Washington ongoing
This series takes a different approach to representing urban life, one that is oriented up; high above the activity of the streets.
We often think of nature as outside of the urban space, one to be visited or cornered into subplots. All across the world as cities grow in numbers and define collective life; we are confronted with certain questions; where do we go to feel at one with nature or to experience wildlife? This series answers with a different set of questions. What is the mood of the day? What spectacular light show, acrobatic bird, or exotic carving will I see today in my urban space, above the corner of Washington and Fulton Streets?
Urban environments necessitate street-level orientation. “Where is the closest subway, bus stop or bodega?” are typical questions we confront on a daily basis in hectic cities. While streets are the single-most vibrant place of interaction in the city, they can also feel oppressive. On a particularly busy corner of Fulton and Washington Streets in Brooklyn, where I live, along with the regular hustle and bustle of a population dense borough, it is routine to pass addicts and drug pushers, confront litter and all manner of vehicles, and take up the hum of the street as if it's the rhythm of your own organ beating. Fulton Street has long been stripped of trees and dotted with busy storefronts. There is an ever-present coating of soot and a rumble that comes from the subway beneath the grates that perforate its sidewalks. It has a life of its own. Between the check-cashing place at one corner, the Chinese food restaurant on the opposite corner that always has a gathering of people outside along with crowded subway entrance at its base, and buses that stack up and idle at exactly this corner, it is near impossible to find a quiet moment at street-level. So I look up.
