Capturing Communities in Words and Images:

The gender identity of an individual is a way a person perceives himself, either as a man, woman or even neither. When a person’s self-identification doesn’t match with one’s assigned sex, he or she can be categorized as a transgender. Many societies frown upon people who consider themselves transgender, because they deviate from norms excepted by most cultures and societies. Over the past century people have become more open to gays, lesbians, and the transgender communities. While it is legal in the United States to be whom you choose, however, many people still disparage on the notion of a transgender community and regard it as a taboo. In some countries, such as those in the Middle East, being a transgender is illegal and may even be punishable by death. New York City as a community, on the other hand, tends to be more liberal, culturally diverse, and in general more tolerant of the transgenders.
Over the past several decades transgender communities have formed all over New York City. Transgender icons, the celebrities amongst the transgenders, have placed much effort to developing a greater acceptance of their community by working against the taboo. Amanda Lepore is an example of such an icon. Being born a man, he was not content with his sexuality and had a very strong perception of himself as female. Born as Armand Lepore, went through numerous transformations to rid of his given sex at birth. Currently, Armand Lepore, now known as Amanda Lepore, is the most famous transgender in New York City. Behind velvet ropes, in the VIP lounges of New York’s finest clubs, Amanda Lepore represents the ultimate Diva, an odalesque of the gay world, an inspiration for some and hope for others. Most importantly, Amanda Lepore embodies a true modern day transgender icon.
I am seeking to explore that very community behind the velvet ropes. By visiting night clubs after hours, I want to seek Amanda Lepore in her element. I want to learn more about her transformations, her adventures to stardom and becoming the most famous transgender in New York City. I will also seek to find the less obvious transgenders. In other words, those who express themselves by night and act as the sex they have been given at birth by day.

Red Hook Brooklyn, named for the red clay it was built upon and the Dutch word Hoek, meaning “point” or “corner,” juts out upon the East River. It is the only part of New York City that has a full frontal view of the Statue of Liberty from land. Like the statue, it has welcomed generations of immigrants throughout the history of this great city.

Recently, a new wave of travelers have been setting upon the land, but unlike the past settlers, they are not immigrants.  Like many New York City urban neighborhoods, Red Hook is experiencing an onset of gentrification. Gentrification is a word that’s thrown around frequently in this time, but what does it mean? According to the dictionary, it is defined as the process of renewal and rebuilding accompanying the influx of middle-class or affluent people into deteriorating areas that often displaces poorer residents.

My project seeks to capture the metamorphosis of this community, in real time, as the old and the new meet head on. What does this actually mean to those who have spent their lives there, and those who now go there to build their lives? I hope to capture in images and words both the stark contrasts, and the inevitable blending that has always shaped the New Amsterdam landscape.

I run across Argentinian poet Maria Negroni’s “Buenos Aires Tour.” The project behind this book encopassed photographs and audio as well, captured by other artists. All three dimensions were meant to reveal unespected details of the city. The authors were determined to create a route different from the traditional tourist guides, which meant that they would not be guided by significant places, buildings, or objects. FInally, they found their path by breaking a glass over a map of Buenos Aires, and using the fracture lines as the markers of their itinerary. 

My focus in this project will be the ecuadorian people living in NYC. I have thought of ways in which to incorporate the ideas behind Negroni’s project into mine, though there are some fundamental differences. For instance, In “Buenos Aires tour,” any place in the city worked fine in order to describe the argentinian dayly life.  In a city where ecuadorians are a minority, to randomly choose a place wouldn’t work out. However, i think that what moved Negroni to capture just whatever neighborhood chance dictated, was a need to move away from stereotypes. Something like a desire to see what happened once one stopped telling oneself what the Buenos Aires people, any people really, is like or does or inhabits.

So I have narrowed down my focus and have come up with an alternative to the broken glass over the map. First, i will focus only on ecuadorians who are working. The first people i will approach will be informal workers. I have seen them at Flushing park, at a Brooklyn subway station, and around Williamsburg. They do exactly what they could have been doing in the streets of Ecuador: selling cheap dvd’s, peeled oranges in plastic bags, or fried pork rinds and corn. I hope i can get to talk to at least three of them. This “interview” will be important, because i want to ask them to tell me what are the jobs and occupations they think haven’t been talked about yet. Is there an stereotypical story they disagree with? Who do they think should be photographed, interviewed, talked about amongst the ecuadorian workers in the city?  This will be my alternative to crushing a mirror over a NYC map: i’ll let my first interviewes help me shape my itinerary.  What i expect will happen is that i will know what is the sterotype they are fighting against, and will articulate profiles that challenge those assumptions.

As you head east on 112 Ave, the road and sidewalk are covered from the fallen foliage with peeking patches of asphalt. Make a left, north onto 221 street, you’re met with the letters “JMJ,” fixed on top of a rusty gargantuan gate. I’ve been in the area, Queens Village, all my life and have never gone past the side gate entrance. For as all I know, this lot, which you can see through the gates – covers one or two acres of seclusion within Queens Village.

Queen of Peace Residence, a nursing home; shares the acred land with St. Anne’s Convent, or if you read the front gate entrance sign, Little Sisters of the Poor. I have never set foot in a convent, let alone past the front gate.

I hope to cohesively capture thiscommunity, in words and images, of the Sisterhood.

Sometimes I wonder if the American Melting Pot is nothing but a myth. A stroll through the streets of Manhattan may be misleading. On the surface we find an overwhelming mix of different nationalities and race, but take a closer look and you’ll find that people still tend to stick to their own kind.

An immigrant myself, I am curious about how people go about making a home away from home. I will explore this concept with the help of the Irish community of New York, concentrating on the Irish bartender and pub patron.

In recent years I have been exposed to this vibrant network of Irish Bartenders. All moved to New York without their families but together they created a new one. They celebrate the holidays together, and when a friend or even a remote acquaintance is in need everyone pulls their weight. They also drink together.

Why do people move more than 3000 miles away from their home country only to recreate it their new destination? In this project I will explore not only how these individuals become each other’s family, but also their relationship with the bars they work and drink in. This will also be an opportunity to examine the stereotype of the Irishman and the love of drink from the point of view of those who choose to live their lives around the pub establishment.    

I have no idea what it is to be a Goth – and that bothers me. It bothers me so much that I want to find out. I want to go into the lairs of Goths, to see what makes them tick. I want to know everything. I want to go undercover into their world of darkness and see what shining light possesses them. What makes a person dress in all black, scary and beautifully black, but only black, day after day, only black? How do you take to the streets dressed like that, day after day, only black? How do you continually face the world dressed as an outsider?

How do Goths see themselves, and how do they see the rest of us. Is their attitude that there is room for all of us? Or do they think that they are right and we are wrong, and its only the fact that there are so many of us that they do not banish us completely, but have consigned themselves to live “underground” in our world instead?

Is there any meaning to being a Goth, or are Goths just rebels without a cause, some pretty clothes and nice bars, and a chance to meet new friends? Is there a story here, say, Gothism is a natural expression of one’s feelings of a need for distance and non-conformity, or is the Goth culture a total anomaly, no rhyme, no reason, no purpose, no direction, just half a step away from extinction, and a decade behind in getting there?

Living in New York City my entire life, I’ve seen so many different kinds of characters, cliques, and cultures. I feel I have a reasonable understanding of most, but Goths, I just don’t get. I don’t understand who these people are and that burns me up. I gotta know…I gotta find out…What makes these people tick?

Goths may not be here forever, but while they are, I have a chance to find out what it is to be a Goth. Thus, my term project proposal – Capturing Communities – New York City Goths.

Yes he’s different. It’s as though time has frozen in 19^th Century Europe. Donning a fur shtreimel and silken coat, the Hassid stands inert against the quickly changing landscape of time. Exuding distance and aloofness, the Hassid turns his back to the world, closes his eyes and locks his lips in silence. But beyond the closed doors and the closed mouths there lies a story. A story worth telling.

Who is the Hassid? How are we to relate to him? Is he like a translucent window, whose outside clearly reflects what is within? Or is he instead like a frosted glass, whose warm interior gets obscured by the icy exterior? The only way to truly understand a people is to uncover them from within. Like the filmy layers of an onion, we must peel back the outer skins in order to expose their innards.

And  if we are to get past the strange garb, the  unusual customs, the unfamiliar language, if we go beyond all the externals, what will we find underneath? Surely the heart of a man beats within this people. Surely they leads lives like you and me, with needs like yours and mine. Surely they’re just people. Just like you and me. Just people.

My goal is to reveal the Hassidic people from the inside, out. To show that beyond the strangeness of without, lies a familiarity of within. I plan on entering their sphere, going into their territory: their homes, their stores, their synagogues- and telling their story, in their language, on their terms. I plan on showing you their world as they see it, and not how you see it.

Certainly there must be some compelling reason they have shut themselves off from the world? Some tell-tale explanation as to why they’ve shielded themselves from integration and assimilation for all these years?

They once tried to blend in. But they couldn’t. They once said, “it can’t happen here.” But it did. And the price they paid was too heavy. The price they paid was six million. Theirs is the story of the Viceroy butterfly. Like the butterfly, the only way they could survive was by blending out.

* Mimicry is the ability to to imitate something other than what you really are. Viceroy butterflies use it as a protection mechanism to trick predators into thinking they are an venomous species. Foremost, the intention of mimicry is to draw attention to yourself. This is usually achieved by advertising your presence with bright colors. Bright colors are probably easier for predators to learn and therefore likely reduces the number of casualties necessary before the predator learns the pattern to avoid and providing the mimic with protection.  http://home.cogeco.ca/~lunker/mimicry.htm

Having a name that represents the five boroughs of New York City, 5 Pointz, located in Long Island City, invites graffiti artists from all over to share there work with the world.  It is important to note that this is one of the very few places in New York, that I know of, where graffiti is perfectly legal.  However, I still find it ironic that a place where anywhere else a person can be arrested for tagging, can be found just blocks away from a courthouse.  Just because graffiti is legal in 5 Pointz does not mean that you can just come and do want you want.  You need permission from Meres, aka Jonathan Cohen, who has been the one in charge since 2002. In order to get permission he needs to view a sample of your work, either in person or through e-mail.

The art at 5 Pointz is not the only reason to visit.  There are many people that come just for the company and form friendships based on there love for the art. To them graffiti is a way of life an not just spray paint and scribbles that look flashy.  Like many communities, there are rules and norms that the artists go by.  There are ways to show respect and there are ways to rebel, and although it might not seem as hard to fit in as other communities, it is and outsiders can be easily spotted.  Because I am used to tagging alone mostly and looking over my shoulder, I am not familiar with the companionship of the artists (and have yet to display my work in a legal way). I have been to 5 Pointz many times and look forward to talking to artists that I don’t know about and how they all relate to each other, and hopefully I can meet Meres and get his permission to paint.