Kids play on the newly rebuilt Rockaway Beach boardwalk, destroyed by Hurricane Sandy. October 12, 2013
A book by Photography & Imaging Alum Lili Holzer-Glier (BFA 2010) exploring the Rockaways post-Hurricane Sandy has been published by Daylight Books coinciding with the third anniversary of the Storm, with an essay by David Breslin.
On October 29, 2012, Hurricane Sandy slammed into the Northeast coast of the United States engulfing homes and crippling communities. The storm revealed in devastating detail the vulnerability of coastal communities to storm surges and powerful flooding. Among the worst hit neighborhoods in New York City was Rockaway Beach located in the Borough of Queens. In Rockabye (Daylight Books, October 2015), New York photographer Lili Holzer-Glier examines the condition of the Rockaways, post-Hurricane Sandy, through a series of color landscapes and portraits taken between 2013-2015. The book will publish in October coinciding with the third anniversary of the storm.
Lili Holzer-Glier's photographs in Rockabye reveal the damaged landscape, the debris still scattered, and the lingering emotional, physical and financial toll of the storm on the people of the Rockaways. Her photographs show abandoned houses still plastered with plywood, some tilting at crazy angles as they are left to rot. Sinkholes line city blocks and some low-lying streets continue to flood dramatically.
Rockabye also captures the extraordinary resiliency of a community that continues to rebuild itself. Holzer-Glier documents the progress that has been made, showing houses that have been rebuilt, businesses that have reopened, and long stretches of the Rockaway Beach boardwalk that have been reconstructed stronger than before. Massive man-made sand dunes now encircle the Rockaways, protecting the peninsula from the storms of the future.
A house thrown off its foundation by Hurricane Sandy slowly sinks into the Broad Channel marsh. October 22, 2013
Rockabye highlights the story of one family that is still struggling nearly three years later. Dona (below left) lost her home and all of her belongings in Hurricane Sandy. Unable to work due to a degenerative spine disease, she supports herself, her disabled uncle, and her daughters on food stamps and a small monthly disability payment. She receives rental assistance from FEMA, but it is not enough to pay the rent on her apartment. "I still feel like I'm in Sandy," she says through tears. "I don't know what the future holds." October 22, 2013
Rockabye pays homage to the resilience of a rebuilding community in the aftermath of a natural disaster. Holzer-Glier hopes that her work draws attention to the ongoing struggle of today's storm survivors and the disastrous human consequences of superstorms, which will inevitably worsen as the global warming crisis intensifies.
About the Artist: Lili Holzer-Glier is a photographer and journalist based in New York City. Her work has been published in Vogue, The New York Times and The New Yorker, among other publications. She lives and works in New York City. For more information about the artist, go here.
ROCKABYE
By Lili Holzer-Glier
Book Details:
ISBN: 9781942084099
Hardcover, 7 X 9 in.
112 pgs., 60 color
$45.00