A Falling-Off Place
The Transformation of Lower Manhattan
Published on 5. September 2023
116 pages
978-1-5315-0440-3 (ISBN)
Description
Photographer Barbara Mensch's rediscovered photo archives and interview tapes capture symbolic transformations of Lower Manhattan.
Many of these images are published here for the first time. The photographs evoke the passage of time by dividing the images into three parts: the 1980s, the 1990s, and the new millennium (2000 and beyond). The photographer shares with the viewer:
"I would shoot ruins of buildings, the demolition of famous waterfront saloons, ancient alleyways, and, in some cases, nineteenth-century buildings destroyed by mysterious fires. There were images of floods and other calamities/catastrophes in Lower Manhattan, culminating with 9/11.
These photos captured what had been, what no longer exists. They served as my visual timeline. What did the passage of the many decades reveal to me? What dynamics were in my images of the same streets I repeatedly walked for years?"
The author's images from the Fulton Fish Market in the 1980s document the generations of immigrants and their children pursuing a gritty American Dream next to the Brooklyn Bridge.
Photos from the 1990s present images of floods and fires that paralyzed the area, juxtaposed with continued bulldozing to clear the way for luxury housing. Politics reshaped Manhattan's skyline by encouraging new commercial shopping, food, and restaurant destinations. This restructuring marked the beginning of the end of downtown's blue-collar origins and white-collar replacements, challenging us to ask, "What was lost?"
The seminal event of the 2000s, September 11, 2001, reinforced downtown's rebirth as the global economic engine with no room for the past. Also included in this section is an interview with an insider privy to the Mafia leadership of the Fulton Fish Market during Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's opportunistic crusade against them in the 1980s.
Dan Barry, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, offers a poetic and insightful tribute to the artist and photographer.
"Definitions: 'falling off' suggests a decline in quality or quantity, 'falling off' suggests the passage of time or changes over time, 'falling off' suggests a detachment, an alternative path to a questionable destination, 'falling off' suggests a separation, 'falling off' suggests something that comes to pass."
Many of these images are published here for the first time. The photographs evoke the passage of time by dividing the images into three parts: the 1980s, the 1990s, and the new millennium (2000 and beyond). The photographer shares with the viewer:
"I would shoot ruins of buildings, the demolition of famous waterfront saloons, ancient alleyways, and, in some cases, nineteenth-century buildings destroyed by mysterious fires. There were images of floods and other calamities/catastrophes in Lower Manhattan, culminating with 9/11.
These photos captured what had been, what no longer exists. They served as my visual timeline. What did the passage of the many decades reveal to me? What dynamics were in my images of the same streets I repeatedly walked for years?"
The author's images from the Fulton Fish Market in the 1980s document the generations of immigrants and their children pursuing a gritty American Dream next to the Brooklyn Bridge.
Photos from the 1990s present images of floods and fires that paralyzed the area, juxtaposed with continued bulldozing to clear the way for luxury housing. Politics reshaped Manhattan's skyline by encouraging new commercial shopping, food, and restaurant destinations. This restructuring marked the beginning of the end of downtown's blue-collar origins and white-collar replacements, challenging us to ask, "What was lost?"
The seminal event of the 2000s, September 11, 2001, reinforced downtown's rebirth as the global economic engine with no room for the past. Also included in this section is an interview with an insider privy to the Mafia leadership of the Fulton Fish Market during Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's opportunistic crusade against them in the 1980s.
Dan Barry, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, offers a poetic and insightful tribute to the artist and photographer.
"Definitions: 'falling off' suggests a decline in quality or quantity, 'falling off' suggests the passage of time or changes over time, 'falling off' suggests a detachment, an alternative path to a questionable destination, 'falling off' suggests a separation, 'falling off' suggests something that comes to pass."
More details
Edition
New edition
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Edition type
New edition
Illustrations
94 b/w illustrations
File size
21,94 MB
ISBN-13
978-1-5315-0440-3 (9781531504403)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
09/2023
Fordham University Press
€40.50
Shipment within 3-4 weeks
Persons
Barbara G. Mensch has had numerous exhibitions of her photographic work. Her images are represented in some of New York City's most prestigious galleries, and her work is included in important collections, including those of MoMA, the Museum of the City of New York, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, Fundacion Televisa of Mexico City, the Bibliotheque Nationale, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. She is the author of South Street and In the Shadow of Genius: The Brooklyn Bridge and Its Creators.
Content
vii Foreword by Dan Barry
1 Introduction
5 Part 1: The 1980s: Making a Living on the Waterfront
49 Part 2: The 1990s: Setting the Stage for a Real Estate Boom
71 Part 3: The New Millennium: Managing Change
100 Talking about the Old Days
115 Acknowledgments
1 Introduction
5 Part 1: The 1980s: Making a Living on the Waterfront
49 Part 2: The 1990s: Setting the Stage for a Real Estate Boom
71 Part 3: The New Millennium: Managing Change
100 Talking about the Old Days
115 Acknowledgments
