/19 Australia

Sam Wong

LA – NY

On June 26th 2014, knocked back by jetlag, I woke up 20 minutes past midnight to the noise of unsettled street parties on my block. In these hours I spent waiting for the sun to come up, I found myself at home, Bedford-Stuyvesant Brooklyn, for the first time.

New York was great but it definitely had a rough side to it. The earring sound of the unrested streets, filled with strange characters at every intersection I crossed. I found it too hard to tell a single story, so instead stepped back and watched the remarkable city unfolded itself before me. New york has that free spirit, things just happen. My approach was almost like catching a random train; I was destined to an unexpected stop with intriguing moments on the way.

My latest project “LA – NY” a close collaboration with Jack Shelton, represents the 3 months long photo-diary about my experiences of New York and the situations I found myself in, people I met along the way and moments I was lucky enough to witness. From stepping into an African-American non-dominate church to witnessing the last days of a closing down dance loft. The following body of work preserved raw moments that I couldn’t explain but rather capture.

www.samwong.com.au