We Will Be Here
When they reach a certain age, native New Yorkers have to understand that they can never go home. With We Will Be Here, photographer Salvador Espinoza is documenting his neighborhood as it disappears. Portraits portray surviving and former Dutch Kills residents among a haunting landscape of scaffolding and high rise dig sites - this is a particular moment in the life of a changing neighborhood: the old hangs on, the new rises up and swallows. Dutch Kills is one of New York City’s fastest changing neighborhoods, rapidly being torn down and replaced with luxury high rises and hotels. As a lifelong resident of Dutch Kills, Espinoza used funding from Queens Council on the Arts to photograph subject matter that is startlingly close to home.
We Will Be Here is an ongoing project. Anyone with ties to the neighborhood can participate by contributing old photographs of the area, or having their portrait taken in Dutch Kills. Those interested should contact Salvador Espinoza at Facebook.com/dutchkillswewillbehere or wewillbehereproject@gmail.com.