Page 129 - 2024-catalogus-peterspaans

1993 In marble Hill
The book “In Marble Hill” is both a document and a tribute to the diverse people in the Marble Hill neighborhood. It features photographs of some elderly users of the senior center in Marble Hill, which is administratively part of Manhattan but located in The Bronx. I visited my friend Dan Schmidt, who was the director of the senior center, regularly. The center’s users came from various backgrounds, and it served as a melting pot where they came together. I decided to take photographs of these elderly users in relation to the Marble Hill neighborhood. It was the first and so far only time that I portrayed people, but I felt it was necessary. The photographs in the book showcase the diversity of the people and their relationship with the neighborhood.
The book also includes a text by Carl Hazlewood, where he discusses my treatment of urbanity. Carl describes how the city has been an essential and enduring motif for both my painting and photography. In paintings and sculptures, the outlines and specific forms of urban architecture are simplified into tight compositions of shifting color planes or minimal forms. On the other hand, the photographs focus on everyday aspects of the city, such as railway storage yards, bridges, utilitarian buildings, shop fronts, and apartment buildings. While these objects may not be picturesque, they gain an aesthetic life through my intense, clear-eyed gaze. The human pre- sence in the photographs is minimal, but the structures designed to control and regulate reveal the clear presence of the social body.
In essence, the book “In Marble Hill” is a visual document that showcases the diversity of people in the Marble Hill neighborhood and explores their relationship with the urban environment. It features photographs of elderly users of a senior center and serves as an ode to the people and the neighborhood. The aesthetics of the photographs and the emphasis on the structures of the city contribute to the artistic character of the book. Additionally, for the special edition, I created 50 objects that can be hung on the wall with the book inside. These objects are made of paint, sand, and wood, and their dimensions are 25 x 35 x 7 cm.
129