Legacy: The Preservation of Wilderness in New York City Parks, By Joel Meyerowitz, Published by Aperture
New York Botanical Garden, The Bronx, Bronx River, near the falls at Snuff Mill, summer
From Meyerowitz's website. This compelling body of work is the result of a unique commission Meyerowitz received from the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation to document, interpret, and celebrate one of the city's greatest legacies: nearly twenty-nine thousand acres of parks in the five boroughs. Through this stunningly rich archive of parks, shorelines, and forests, Meyerowitz's Legacytransports the viewer into the heart of a lush wilderness while contextualizing these corners of nature as an inextricable part of city life today. Meyerowitz is the first photographer to document New York City's parks since the 1930s, when they were photographed as part of Franklin D. Roosevelt's WPA program.
A Video Except:
Quotes:
“The chaos and density of the wilderness parks reflects on the chaos and density of the city.” Trees and skyscrapers both have long shadows at sundown, and fresh snow on power lines mimics snow on branches. The landscape changes with the pace of the seasons: in weather, in cycles of the sun, in new growth replacing the old. Meyerowitz returns repeatedly, almost compulsively, to document these changes. Frequently nature is thought of as a place untouched by human hand, but in the city’s parklands, evidence of the human hand exists everywhere in the dirt pathways.
http://artnewengland.com/blogs/joel-meyerowitz-legacy—the-preservation-of-wilderness-in-new-york-city-parks/
One of my favorite sections in the book is on Hallett Nature Sanctuary in Central Park. The sanctuary is closed to the public and can only be visited through a Guided tour. Call 212-794-4064. It is Located on the East Side 60th-62nd Streets.
