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When
I was asked to participate in the documentation of the
Lower East Side Tenement Museum by Polaroid in 1993,
this tenement building on Orchard Street was being rehabilitated
as a tribute to the multitudes of immigrants that streamed
into New York City in the mid 19th and early 20th centuries.
As I recall, it was vacated in 1935. I believe that
over 7,000 people lived in the building during its lifetime.
I am not sure what it was used for after that, but in
1993, many rooms were quite decrepit. A few had already
been returned to their original condition, others were
partially finished. My concept was to find former inhabitants–obviously
children then–and photograph them in the environment
of their childhood apartments. I thought that an important
connection to their past would give the portraits an
added dimension and meaning. |
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continue 
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