The magazine of the art-form of the photo-essay
“A free, really high quality photo-essay magazine. Fabulous!”
Stephen Fry. British actor, writer and film & documentary maker
Jan 2014 back issue
by Richard Sandler
Anti-nuke march, nyc, june, 12th 1982.
Broadway and wall st., nyc, c.1988.
CC train, nyc, 1985.
Furs on 5th Ave., nyc, 1984.
Grand Central terminal, nyc, 1989.
Kids asleep on woman on subway, c. 1981.
Madison Ave. and 32nd St., nyc c.1983.
Subway couple, nyc, c.1987.
Subway noir. nyc, c.1987.
True you found it, subway, nyc, 1984.
Woman, doubled face, nyc, c. 1984.
Woman, graffiti, subway c. 1984.
Subway couple kissing, nyc.
These photographs were made 25 to 35 years ago in a very different New York City. They depict a time that lives in
limbo: they are too young to be the historical records of the distant past, yet too old to resemble contemporary culture,
now moving at warp speed.
The pictures were made just before the proliferation of computers, cell phones, I pods, digital cameras and the internet;
there was no way to filter the realities of the broken city, and there was no refuge in virtual space. For better and for
worse one was simply "on the street," in public space, bathing in the comforts, or terrors, of the human sea.
In the subways, graffiti tags and spray painting exploded onto every possible surface and whole subway cars were
"bombed," windows and all. Above and below ground, crime and crack were on the rise, rents were cheap, and
tourists were too scared to visit the city.
Times Square and East Village streets were drugged-out, but they were also home to thousands of artists and dozens
of art galleries and music clubs. In mid-town the gaudy rich wore furs in unprecedented numbers. Ronald Reagan was
president, "greed was good," and Y2K hysteria was just beginning.
5th ave. and 57th st., nyc, c. 1984.
Grand Central and kodak billboard.
Women with briefcase and portfolio case.
