Seeing your hometown through other lenses. This is about what all photo essays crowning New York City’s glory makes me feel.
When I run stumble onto photographs of my childhood neighborhood, places that were evoked a certain unknowable feeling within me, places that are so familiar you feel like you’ll always recognize them. But no actually, it took me a few extra moments to recognize even the places I’ve seen hundreds of times. A double take is needed here.
One of the things I recognized is the disparity between my version of New York and the versions within the images. How the images romanticize their subjects admirably, lending envy and yearning to a viewer — perhaps on purpose. The pictures offer a sense of relax that real life does not necessarily offer.
You’re never isolated in New York. Your version is your own, but there is an everyone version that always feels taken from you. It’s okay though, you don’t have to give it back because you’ll never be able to. And it doesn’t matter anyway. This is common ground one that can connect us, foster kinship (anthropologists love not just kinship diagrams but also all things kinship), and take us to a place at least one step away from loneliness.
Image credit: Asya Stepnova
This is a classic. Chinatown wholesale stands (Above)
Image credit: Asya Stepnova
Ocean Parkway. A stark reminder of the neighborhood I’ll never separate from.
Image credit: Asya Stepnova
Image credit: Asya Stepnova
Image credit: Stephanie Alirkan
Image credit: Stephanie Alirkan
Featured image by: The Daily Californian
Step into a new lens with SnailVR:
New York City is Mine and Everyone Else"s
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