In Manhattan’s most expensive zip code, Donna Ferrato focuses on the spirit and evolution of Tribeca from abandoned commercial center and a refuge for artists to one of Manhattan’s most fashionable and desirable neighborhoods. Living below Canal St. for 22 years Ferrato has strived to preserve the memories of the way her beloved neighborhood was, “before 9.11, before the sky exploded, before the loss of innocence.” !
Known for her groundbreaking work on domestic violence and book, Living With the Enemy, Donna turns her passionate and relentless social activism into an intensely personal perspective of the dramatic transformation of her home ground, TRIBECA 10013.
« Stalking a neighborhood is exhausting. Expensive. If I could stop I would. ~ Once Tribeca was my refuge from the chaos. Then came bombs disguised as planes. People. Jumped. Ran. Cried.
Over night. The dream ended. I’ll always remember the smell.
But Twenty first century gentrification went forward without skipping a beat. Money changed hands. Majestic old buildings were demolished without impunity. Selling off air rights was the new normal. If I was normal I would have grown depressed long ago from the anti-human destruction and redevelopment that surrounds me. What kind of a life. Is this?
I live on Leonard street. Leonard St is a sawed off street. Once a playground for rats lined with parking lots, garages, and abandoned buildings.
I am a photographer. Trained as a LIFE Magazine photographer to see through the surface. To stay the course. To anticipate. I’ve always been driven to capture the meaning of what moves below the surface. (And this is what I see around me now.)
For me photography is single minded obsession. My feelings are in the photographs. My hope is to share them with the living and the unborn and the long dead. I dedicate this work to someone who lived in my loft back when this land at the far south west tip of the island was called CALK HOOK because of the oyster and clam shells that covered the streets back when this neighborhood was for politicians and outlaws, working men and prostitutes. Thomas I Lee was his name. He was a worker and an artist. He spent time in my low slung brick building on the far west end of Leonard Street. Using black ink and a rough brush he committed his own human stain on the wall. He signed his name and encouraged his fellow workers to do the same in the 1800’s. In 1996 I found that image color faded on a brick wall in the abandoned building that had been marked for new life. His strong face and long hair won my heart. I wanted to save him from oblivion, from the scourge of sheetrock and blindly destructive change.
I live with his century old self portrait now. I’ve understood his legacy. His commitment. His giving of himself. His leaving something of himself behind because someone always finds it. Because there is no greater gift than a work of selfless art.
I am grateful. To the ones who’ve always believed in my passion ~ Fanny O Ferrato, Johnny Hilares, Jen & Andrew Marrus, Keri & Adrian Kunzle, Ray Merritt, Hank Widmaier, Jane Smith, Isabella Rodriguez, Valerie Carmet, Marine & Raoul, Rene Perez, who encouraged and curated this show. A big shout out to my neighbors and precious family (Alaa Hassan & Ryan Ferrato Hassan) ~ eternal love. » – Donna Ferrato 5.12.16
EXHIBITION
Tribeca 10013
Donna Ferrato
May 12th to July 2nd, 2016
Leica Store Soho
460 W Broadway
New York NY
United States
[email protected]
http://www.leicastoresoho.com
