In Plain Air

The images in my ongoing project In Plain Air may seem to come from distant, disparate places but are all made in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park. Slipping into this urban oasis, one evaporates into the quintessential American melting pot, a shared mecca for a myriad of cultures, religions, ethnicities. To me, it is an endlessly shifting stage set that presents itself through a kaleidoscope. Wandering around its one mile radius is like traveling to far lands—each corner of the park transforms to host its visitors’ projection of their own geographies, shaping their immediate environment into one they’ve brought along. For this reason alone, for its democratic embrace, this park is the definition of paradise and a vision of original American ideals of equality, adaptability, and acceptance that are beginning to feel increasingly endangered.