The photos attached are photos taken by Camilo José Vergara for his project Tracking Time. Vergara has been photographing the poorest and most segregated neighborhoods in urban America for more than 40 years. The photos that I have attached onto this post are some, but not all, photographs of two locations in Harlem, the southwest corner of West 125th Street at Malcolm X Boulevard and 65 East 125th Street.
At first, these photos do not seem to change. Only varying aspects change; for example, from 1989 to 2006, while intersections and billboards on the buildings change on West 125th Street, the corner stores are still there and seem to be a long-living, long lasting stores that are still relevant in the neighborhood. But quite suddenly, in 2007, that whole corner is knocked down to empty space before being redeveloped into a more industrial, urban building in 2016. Contrastingly, on East 125th Street, the two storefronts that have been photographed since 1977 seem to be ever changing. The storefronts clearly show that it is a part of an artistic and cultural neighborhood, but after three years, the storefronts seem rundown and unoccupied. The storefronts seems to go through a variety of owners before finally being boarded up completely in 2002. Now, a church stands in its place.
I chose these set of pictures because it relates to our discussion on how neighborhoods are changing. The photosets describe how the neighborhood of Harlem is really changing in regards to economy, culture, community needs. Through the photographs of West 125th Street, you can immediately tell that the neighborhood is a predominantly black neighborhood and even the billboards, displaying black models and people, seem to be made for a black audience. When the whole block is knocked down in 2007, it raises questions like “What is happening to the community?” and “Who decided to knock down all the storefronts to create an industrial building, the community or government officials?” Looking at this set of photos reminded me of the Atlantic Yards situation that we saw in class last week about the fight between officials and the general community. Looking at the photos of the storefronts on East 125th Street raises the question “Why are these stores continuously changing?“ It provides a reason to look into the economy and community needs of the neighborhood. At first, the storefronts seem to really describe the neighborhood as an artistic neighborhood. Afterwards, it seems that the people moved out and different people keep coming in. Now, it seems that the neighborhood is a mainly religious community as the church has been there and continues to stand there. What can be really looked into is how has the community changed in regards that it did not need all the places that the stores kept becoming or has rent become too high for some of these owners to be able to keep their stores? I found these photos really interesting because it clearly describes how a neighborhood changes without having to explain it in words. These photos can be helpful in describing how Harlem is changing and how it is affecting Harlem in the current day.
Here is Vergara’s website: http://www.camilojosevergara.com/
