During the pandemic, I spent months confined to the blocks within walking distance of my apartment in Queens. Once I got vaccinated and felt comfortable riding the subway again, I returned to Manhattan after the longest absence of my adult life. Emerging from the 7 train into Grand Central was surreal.
Everything looked the same, yet it all felt strangely new. As I reconnected with the streets I had once moved through daily, I found myself drawn to the little stubborn holdouts that had weathered massive change.
In a city deeply scarred by the early days of COVID, these structures, wedged between towers and overshadowed by new development, offered me a quiet kind of comfort. Their endurance became a powerful visual reminder of the resilience and grit of previous generations of New Yorkers.
In the series Still Here, I attempt to honor that resilience by capturing the layers of history that refuse to disappear and the structures that continue to stand even as the city rewrites itself around them.
little red riding hood
the hangover
a passing fancy
driving a wedge between us
three's company
broadway belles
still here
taking a seat
one more peep
sandwiched
on the bowery
give it a rest
getting on like a house on fire
plastics
experience ny now
a lot going on
taken to the cleaners
when the novelty wears off
checking out
getting dunked on
twins!
