Irene Joyce Dimatulac MHC 100 Prof.

Lynda Klich

Aking New York: Artists Statement There is, first, the New York of the man or woman who was born here, who takes the city for granted and accepts its size and turbulence as natural and inevitable. -E.B. White, Here is New York Everyday the crowded bus I am on drives past hundreds of cars, hundreds of commuters, and hundreds of large imposing skyscrapers. While people often push and find the smallest crevices they can fit into in the bus, many undermine the beauty of the United Nations main headquarters as we pass it on our daily commute. The mentality that many people have of the city is that, as E.B. White put it, [we] have accepted its size and turbulence as natural and inevitable. Against this prevalent mentality is a conscious effort to recognize the infinite beauty of this city to the limited capacity I can muster. We live in a city constructed by the diverse history and ideas of all of its residents, from the cultures of music and art to economic and technological innovations. Aking New York, My New York in Filipino, attempts to capture the spontaneity, vivacity, and legacy of our city. These pictures that I take, in concurrence with a characteristic of the theme, were taken spontaneously. The pictures taken for each week, however, do fall in a specific order. The first set of pictures of Aking New York reflects the indifference many New Yorkers show towards the cities color and history. In two of the three pictures,

a centered figure is faced away from the architectural beauty surrounding them. I purposely framed the picture so that the figure is small in comparison to the background as to show that the figure isnt the subject. The succeeding sets of Aking New York shifted in the meaning behind the pictures. This second set, for example, presents a more relaxed New York. This New York, although casual such as iron working men on break and a sleeping homeless man, is just as vivacious as a turbulent, business-centered New York. The third set draws attention to the citys history through everyday sights such as the faded company logo and the statue erected in honor of a leader. The succeeding collection features a popular destination for New Yorkers and tourists alike, but still not well appreciated by either Central Park. In Central Park, the natural characteristics and manmade features blend easily with the ability to tell the natural and cultural stories of New York by the grandeur of the trees and the erection of statues, for instance. While each of the collections presents a new aspect of the city, the technical requirements remain the same. These pictures, for instance, were usually tinted slightly to create the feeling of warmth like the warm welcome of the city. My collection also focuses on the sights of New York, no matter how plebeian we think them to be, rather than the people. This subject choice is deliberate because the sights had been around for years, decades, and even centuries. While people build the city up and continue to modify it, the essence of the city, through generations of people remain the same through the art and sights around us. We just have to remember to turn around and see.