Project #2: Whitehead’s quotes

I chose this subject in particular because it pinpoints two completely different time periods of New York and brings them together into one frame. From the image that I captured, I was able to see where we were as a city (before my time), and how much things have changed as well as how far we have come. Over the course of the years the city has changed drastically, but the streets  still hold the history of what came before. Colson Whitehead supports my concept in what he says in his passage. He states, ” Our streets are like calenders containing who we were and who will be next”. In this case, the “we” depicted in this quote represents the path or destiny of the city. In this passage, Whitehead conveys the message that the streets of the city record everything that has happened and endures what will result from this as the new New York begins to emerge. My juxtaposition fits the concept that Whitehead wants to bring across. Knowing that the church building in my photo frame is of the old New York, this represents who “we” once were, as Whitehead stated. However, the photo also depicts Remsen street which is a one-point perspective leading to a single vanishing point. And at the end of this vanishing point Is the sky scraper which symbolizes what we know as the presnt day New York.

Whitehead also further explains the concept of the overlap between the two cities. In the last paragraph of his passage he says, ” What follows is my city. Making this a guide book, with handy color-coded maps and miniscule fine print you should read very closely so you won’t be surprised. It contains your neighborhoods. Or doesn’t. We overlap. Or don’t. Maybe you’ve walked these avenues, maybe it’s all Jersey to you. I’m not sure what to say. Except that probably we’re neighbors. That we walk past each other everyday,and never knew it until now”. I found this intriguing because it explains that the different New Yorks are like a ” guide book” and the new New York is the latest city to be built onto what came before. He seems to be undecided at whether these New Yorks overlap or not. But the reality is that these overlaps will always be around as long as New York begins to evolve. Therefore, this quote supports what my juxtaposition represents.

Overall, my juxtaposition depicts the proper overlap between the two New Yorks. As time progresses new overlaps will always be created. Whitehead says that we must not fight the inevitable because nothing is meant to last forever. These eight million New Yorks he mentions will never be the same as the one I know or even the one my neighbor knows. But when we look back at the city we have grown to love, we can always spot a particular aspect  that we can reminisce from our own New York.

 

One thought on “Project #2: Whitehead’s quotes

  1. It sounds like Whitehead’s “City Limits” resonates with what you observed on your walk. You can draw shorter quotations to zero in on the exact parts you want–we can talk about how to do this. I like how you bring together old New York and new New York in your juxtaposition, and how you bring in design terminology when you talk about perspective. Which building’s design resonates with your design aesthetic? What attracted you to these buildings as a juxtaposition? In your draft (is it posted somewhere?), you’ll include detailed descriptions of each building as you draw a comparison to juxtapose these overlapping New Yorks.

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