On Broadways

Broadway is the most famous street in America and particularly New York City. The word itself evokes the speed and density of city life, speaks of centuries of history, and in a single stroke describes the creative and commercial animus of generations of New Yorkers. The term ‘Broadway’ can represent the whole of New York City, but Broadway is not just a single street in Manhattan. Every borough has its own Broadway, and each Broadway has its topography and demographics—the placid suburban lawns and Dutch colonial homes of Broadway in Staten Island; the shadow and rumble of the elevated train tracks over Broadway in Brooklyn; the car lots and arepa places of Broadway in Queens; the discount stores and beauty salons of Broadway in the Bronx.

On Broadways will consist of five days of photographing during which students will engage with the socio-cultural diversity and multiple realities of each of the city’s Broadways. We will create an exciting new photographic map of a city shaped more than any other by its very diverse communities and the various histories that brought them here, this means engaging with and photographing strangers as well as visiting cultural institutions and organizations. The workshop will provide a wonderful experience to learn about the different realities coexisting in New York City and how history intersects with and engages the present. 

Students are encouraged to work within any format: portraiture, architecture, landscape, still life, abstract—anything photographic. They will experience and gain insight into the documentation of a place and will work individually, one on one with Eirik Johnson and Richard Renaldi, and as a group on a specific theme. The photographs produced will be as diverse as the people and communities we get to know throughout the workshop.

The final in-person session will be dedicated to editing and sequencing a printed publication featuring the students’ work. We’ll work with a designer to create a collaborative zine. Later, once the publication has been printed and all participants have received their copy, the group will reconvene with Eirik and Richard over Zoom to discuss the printed work.