New York City is an arena for stories. Brandon Stanton’s photo portraits of strangers on NYC streets first went public on a Facebook page in 2010. Eventually, excerpts of their conversations were added as captions, and “Humans of New York” evolved into a popular storytelling platform and, in 2013, his first best-selling book, Humans of New York. To date, Stanton has photographed and interviewed more than 10,000 New Yorkers.
A variety of New Yorkers greet commuters in the subway tunnels.
Now, in the exhibition Dear New York, Grand Central’s main concourse has been activated with slowly changing 50-foot projections of these photo portraits and text excerpts. A musical soundtrack is provided by students and alumni of the Juilliard school, who perform 50-minute piano concerts; across the station, 150 digital screens that usually hold ads and transit announcements display “Humans of New York” portraits and quotes. Street shots and close-up faces of strangers loom over the multitudes who stream through Grand Central, checking train times and rushing to their tracks around the iconic four-faced clock over the information booth. These images alternate with quotes from Stanton’s subjects, from “Dreams grow faster in New York soil” to “It was all my parents’ fault.” In the subway station’s bowels, below Grand Central, more portraits and quotes greet commuters. In one shot, a smiling woman in an electric-blue shirt stands in front of a brownstone stoop, which features a sign announcing “Mr and Mrs Slater.” The caption reads: “I’m waiting for Mr. Slater.”
Photographer Mark Minton’s subjects find the party.
Sabrina Santiago’s young women are on the move.
In Grand Central’s Vanderbilt Hall are two additional, related photo exhibits, one the work of 11 professional photographers from across New York City who have documented their communities. A photo by Sabrina Santiago, who says, “For me, the city reveals itself in fragments,” frames three young women in the door of a subway train, foregrounded by another young woman who looks like she might be faraway in her own mind. Mark Minton, who came to the city after being fascinated by Warhol superstars and ’90s club kids, says, “Even as America continues to be rattled by political and economic instability, one thing remains certain: There will always be a party in New York,” a take reflected in a photo of a sequinned figure reflected in the hand mirror they are holding.
Ninth grader Victoria Moxey found her subject in the fire station.
Also displayed in Vanderbilt Hall are photographs taken by 600 students from across the city, who were asked to choose someone who they believe has made an impact on their community. Victoria Moxey, a 9th grader at the Lycée Français de New York, says, “I was thinking to myself, Who should I do? But then I see the fire station.” Her subject is a fireman she spots when the station doors are left open, who smiles graciously in front of his truck. Etty Huberman, a 9th grader at Staten Island Academy, simply chose her baby sister, because “she is friendly and non judging to everyone.”
As the diverse communities of American cities are being ripped apart, Dear New York evinces the richness of our human variety. ❖
Dear New York
Grand Center Terminal
Main Concourse and Vanderbilt Hall
89 East 42nd Street
Through October 19
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