April 12 – May 8, 1985
Along with others, I witnessed any number of fires on the Lower East Side. Warming fires in barrels were common and so were cars burning every few days somewhere nearby. Once around midnight a man on a bench across Houston from Russ and Daughters was building a tiny fire of twigs and spent matches between his large black boots. That photo is in black and white, and I only took one because another man appeared and began threatening me.
Several times during daytime I saw an elderly woman in a blue dress with birds on it wandering from one obscure place to another dispensing bread crumbs. One day I followed behind and made this picture. If it were now, I would see if she wanted to talk.
Photographing in New York seemed like a ticket to everywhere, as long as I didn’t have to be there as a lonely middle-class white girl living through varying states of despair whenever she didn’t have a camera between herself and the world. Over time, my camera has continued to be a true mate and thank a god the lonely girl is never lonely now. The dreams of life and the life of dreams, then the life and dreams they create together, that is all I’ve ever really wanted to see.
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