"The View From Above is a contemporary photographic exploration of the West Side Highway, observed through a pedestrian lens that intertwines themes of sex, property, historical erasure, public transgression, opulence, and urban development.
A native New Yorker raised in Greenwich Village, I struggle with the dissonance between the present West Village, the Village of my upbringing, and the Village of the past. The title, The View From Above, alludes to the shift from a street-level perspective of the highway to the contemporary gaze from the new high-rise apartment complexes.
The photobook delves into my personal experiences as a young trans individual, navigating the Highway’s sexual landscapes that shaped my adolescence. Many of my first experiences of sex were in public, particularly at Pier 40, which is featured prominently in the book. Through architectural images of public cruising grounds contrasted with intimate photos taken in the opulent apartments and hotels that have been sprouting up along the highway, the project unveils intersections of personal history, urban experiences, and sex in a capitalist society.
In this exploration, I confront these commercial forces seeking to cleanse the West Side of perceived impurities, while reckoning with my own complicity in this erasure, as well as the ways in which I benefit from it. Utilizing the iPhone, spy cameras, and appropriated imagery, I seek to craft a new, contemplative vision of the West Side Highway, where I am both witness and participant in the West Side's metamorphosis."
