The central concept of our project is to demonstrate how the many different neighborhoods in NYC are all connected by the subway system, Central Park, and museums. Despite having various ethnic, cultural, or economic differences, there are a number of things that unite these diverse enclaves. For example, the New York City Subway does not discriminate who can use it. It is used daily by the Upper East Side billionaires and the students commuting from the Baruch dorms. There is no luxury cabin or first class. Instead, everyone is exposed to the same delays, smells, and crowdedness. Another such place is Central Park. The park is surrounded by a few very different neighborhoods and it accepts everyone the same. The entry fee from Billionaire’s Row is the same as from Spanish Harlem – it’s free. At the same time, the park is everyone’s backyard. Many people like to jog, walk, bike, or even just get some quiet away from the busy streets of Manhattan. Lastly, the plethora of museums are also a major union for all of New Yorkers. Museums are enjoyed by many people and many are free or inexpensive.

Our material will portray the many different cultures, backgrounds, and lives of the people that live in New York City. The first layer of this will be erasure poems which will form the foundation of our project. For each enclave of the city, we will choose a poem that represents that areas culture, or was written by someone who lived in that particular area. This first step will provide our project with a solid base to work from. Our next step is to hide certain sections of the poem using significant landmarks from each enclave. Not only will this highlight the specific words we feel define each area of the city, but it will also add a physical element. Some examples include museums, famous buildings, and parks. What will ultimately tie the project together is the interconnectedness of the city and its major landmarks. While each enclave has a certain culture, they exist together to form New York City. It is our main goal to show how although the city seems so segregated, through the subways, museums, and parks, it truly is connected. 

 Our project will attempt to communicate and highlight this interconnectedness of New Yorkers, despite our cultural and social differences. The first piece of our project will be the poster board outline of Manhattan. Manhattan is an enclosed island, completely surrounded by water, and yet, so many different people call it home. The symbolism of Manhattan being cut off from the mainland depicts how New Yorkers are able to live harmoniously despite their different backgrounds and socioeconomic statuses. The next main component of our project will be the subway lines running from all these individual enclaves, intertwined like a spider web. As previously stated, New Yorkers can all emotionally relate to each other because of similar subway experiences, and it is also the physical network that links these neighborhoods together. The subway is a vital piece of the puzzle of New York, pumping people in and out of the city like veins in a living body. We will emphasize this by drawing out the subway lines and including the train symbols around various well-known subway stops. Lastly, the culture of each neighborhood is necessary to its uniqueness. On an island where people take the same mode of transportation and see the same tall skyscrapers and walk in the same (central) park, the ethnic differences of each enclave is what truly makes Manhattan a special place in New York City. We want to describe the importance of culture by using the map of Manhattan as a way to “erase” poems written from or about a particular neighborhood. This way, we would be able to communicate that the roots of Manhattan’s vibrant atmosphere lie way below even the subway stations and come from the arts that grew from the citizens of each enclave.

We hope the viewers of our project will be able to see, understand, and appreciate the existence of diverse neighborhoods throughout New York City and particularly Manhattan, since it is the borough we focus on in our project and is the heart of the city and the entire world. We expect our audience to first notice an abundance of color to differentiate the various ethnic enclaves, subway lines, and train symbols around Manhattan. Furthermore, our audience will see how each erasure poem relates directly to the neighborhood it is from and/or written about. Since our viewers are New Yorkers, we expect and truly hope that our message will resonate with them and that they will be able to relate it to their experience living in New York, after a prolonged encounter with the artwork. Perhaps they will remember, visualize, and ponder their relationship with the neighborhoods they have visited, trains and train stations they have been in, museums they have attended, and even their own ethnic enclave and how it relates to their family and culture. Most importantly, they will become conscious of the importance of cultural awareness and a feeling of community, because first and foremost, we are New Yorkers and we must support and care for each other.

This is a cut-out of our map of Manhattan (featuring Julia’s sock feet for size reference).