Born and bred in Brooklyn, I often found myself at Atlantic Terminal Mall browsing through low-priced sweaters at Target. Happy to have a wide variety of shopping options close to home, my brothers and I didn’t mind sitting in traffic for the sake of a new pair of sneakers. We’d race around what we considered to be well-kept shops and marvel over kiosks displaying earrings, graphic tee shirts, and mammoth stuffed animals (my personal favorite). Little did we know how drastically the area would change over the next decade; the mall we had come to cherish would pale in comparison to the entertainment hub Downtown Brooklyn would become.
Whether I constructed or embellished these memories after the fact I cannot confirm, but I have distinct recollections of construction sites dotting the area surrounding the mall for as long as I can remember. I never gave much thought to them until similar changes began happening in my neighborhood – renovated parks, improved museums, cleaner streets, and, of course, hipsters with their food trucks were all being introduced to my home turf at a rapid pace. Though I couldn’t put my finger on what had happened to my neighborhood, I was delighted with the change and spent days strolling through my new home, marveling at exquisite architecture rising majestically toward skies dripping with several shades of blue. It became simpler to appreciate the relationship between a neighborhood and its residents, especially when they are set on a trajectory toward positive reformation.
One morning in 2010, I was informed – or rather, shouted at – by my overly excited brother about the start of construction on Barclays Center, right next door to our beloved mall! It was intended to be the home of the Brooklyn Nets, a basketball team my brother was quite a fan of, as I gathered from rapid-fire statistics and gleeful screeches. During the two years prior to opening day, I didn’t give the center a second thought as I wasn’t very interested in (read: avidly opposed to) the world of sports. I couldn’t have possibly imagined the widespread influence that would later radiate from Barclays Center, benefitting a startling range of demographics – including non-sports fans such as myself. It had initiated a series of construction projects in surrounding areas; work is still being done to improve parks and establishments dotting Downtown Brooklyn. During each trip I made to conduct observations for this project, I noticed the stark orange coloring of construction zones sneaking into the background of my photographs.
Since I covered the visual aspects of our project, I was made to focus on details I had previously overlooked. The aesthetic transformation from the Brooklyn I once knew was astonishing, to say the least, especially given the shift in both function and feature apparent in crossing between residential, commercial, and governmental areas. While residential areas primarily feature small coffee shops, dog walkers, and children zooming down streets in rattling scooters, more commercial areas boast affordable shopping like Old Navy and American Eagle. Following the red subway line will take you toward courthouses and parks; Columbus Park appears to open up into an entirely separate neighborhood funded by retiring CEOs and designed with photographers like myself in mind. I have always been impressed with the regal facade of the Bankruptcy Court and thrilled with the hubbub flowing through the Family and Supreme Courts, but stopping to take in the scene facilitated my newfound love for the design elements I found myself surrounded by.
While researching Barclays Center, I came across a video compiled by the Verge detailing its design as one thoroughly rooted in technological innovation. In retrospect, the perspective allowed me to appreciate the architectural genius of Barclays as well. It isn’t unambiguously picturesque, like the courthouses I fawned over and tried to capture in our Instagram feed. Nevertheless, it holds its own charm, directly contrasting the classic beauty of Columbus Park. The hi-tech aura, supported by a giant screen welcoming visitors and nearly 8000 square feet of LED screens throughout the stadium, attracts a younger demographic with its more contemporary splendor. The architectural team hired to construct Barclays completely shattered antiquated beauty ideals and created an attractive brand for the Nets, suggesting their future success was supported by an entire team of marketers.
Although I had the opportunity to capture Downtown Brooklyn through the camera as accurately and visually pleasing as possible, I could not practically visit every day and snap shots of every street. I was therefore glad to find a blog dedicated to the photographic documentation of the area in the form of a Tumblr blog entitled An Ongoing Photographic Survey of Downtown Brooklyn. Removed from mass media representation and offered on a platform directed toward primarily young adult users, Brooklyn becomes a neighborhood like any other. It is no longer the glorified historical streets portrayed time and time again in an excessive number of television shows. The blog reaffirms what I have come to believe: Brooklyn residents are resistant to change, grasping onto remnants of a world quickly fading. Simultaneously, however, they (including myself) are ecstatic to welcome transformation on their own terms, once they have gotten used to the idea.
Trying to examine a community familiar to you is a demanding task if you want to do it well, with unbiased methods. I essentially gave up on trying to forget the many memories I had of the areas I walked through; my experience being informed by previous ones certainly does not invalidate it. In fact, I found walking the streets of Downtown Brooklyn and jotting notes in my little worn notebook to be quite rewarding. I was granted with the opportunity to reexamine childhood nostalgia from a distance. I already knew what it felt like to be a resident, and being a tourist let me do odd things like stand in Starbucks and snap pictures of walls that are certainly uninteresting to daily visitors. Sometimes it’s important to take a step back and experience your life with a fresh pair of eyes. Who knows, you might see something you didn’t notice before.
-YG
