A Product Of Our Environment: A Preview Of What I'm Working On For Aperture

So last summer in the midst of a project I was working on called Down These Mean Streets, The Aperture Foundation contacted me saying they wanted to meet. They wouldn't tell me what it was for and I had to submit to a portfolio first. So I did. Fast forward to a couple weeks later, some meetings had, a proposal written, I get an email saying I got it. I was one of five photographers (the others being the incredibly talented Gabriele Stabile, Thomas Holton, LaToya Ruby Frazier and Shen Wei) selected to document the New York City Green Cart Initiative. This commission is in partnership with the Tisch Illumination Fund, The Mayor's Fund for New York City and the Department of Health and provides underserved urban communities with ready access to fresh fruits and vegetables via hundreds of independently-owned Green Carts stands.



One of the things that I was intent on showing in the work I made for Mean Streets was the lack of healthy food options and the ever abundant liquor stores and fast food chains and I wanted to continue this exploration. So for this commission I will be photographing in the geographic locations within the 5 boroughs where the highest reported instances of poverty, obesity, diabetes, illness related to poor nutrition and people living without health insurance overlap with the locations of the Green Carts. My goal is to create a visual record of the food options that surround the Green Carts within this geographic overlap. I’m interested in the impact the fruit and vegetable carts will have on these areas and how they will compete against one of America’s most addictive drugs: fast food. As our country adapts to a changing economy and we debate healthcare, the weight of these national issues can be seen on a local level through the Green Cart initiative and its influence on New York City’s most economically deprived neighborhoods.

It is exciting to be a part of this project and it is so important that commissions of this nature are put into action which demonstrate a commitment to explore social issues through the medium of photography and continue on in the vein of the great work done by the WPA photographers many years ago. There is no time since then more important for this than right now.



-To see a preview of all 5 photographers' work please visit the Aperture Foundation website.

Obama, We Are Dying Out Here

Obama, we are dying out here. Stand up and put change into action, talk is cheap, doing is doing. We need health care, we need health education, we need health options. We are dying slowly...

We Eat Fish, Tossed Salads And Make Rap Ballads

Be healthy. Enjoy the last of these summer days with some fresh fruit.

NYC Green Carts along 125th.

Aperture Green Cart Commission

I am thrilled and excited to have been selected by the Aperture Foundation to work on a year long commission documenting the Green Cart initiative in New York City. I will be working with 4 other awesome photographers, LaToya Ruby Frazier, Thomas Holton, Gabriele Stabile & Shen Wei on the project. For the past year I have turned my camera to the problems that plague our inner cities in hopes that through the power and salience of photography change can come and positive action can be made. There is a food revolution happening right now in inner cities throughout America and it is a light at the end of a long dark tunnel to discover programs like the Green Cart initiative. It is refreshing and uplifting to be able to now turn my camera and document the efforts to bring locally grown fruits and vegetables at affordable prices to some of the most economically deprived neighborhoods in New York where there are little or no health resources and food options available.

No Longer Can We Ignore The Lack Of Health And Food Options In Our Inner Cities

There is a food revolution happening right now in our inner cities (a must read). The future of our country and its citizens lies not only in how we value our education system and living conditions, etc, but in the health of our people. Our health care system has been under great focus recently, as it should be. How we have let our health care system become a business dominated by insurance companies and pharmaceutical makers I do not know. How the sick workers who gave their brave lives to spending weeks working on Ground Zero and now can not get insurance coverage (Moore's Sicko) brings tears. This must end. Instead of spending millions of dollars on treating the preventable illnesses (obesity, diabetes, stroke, blindness, limp amputation and kidney failure) that result from little or no health and food resources in low income areas, we must target the problem before it begins. Many programs (The Food Trust, Fresh Food Financing Initiative, urban farmers, to list a few of the many) have sprouted up across America that recognize the immediate need for change and have hit the streets and taken action. Here is some information:



From Gov. Paterson’s press release announcing strategies to expand grocery stores in underserved neighborhoods:

“There are not enough healthy food options in many urban and rural communities throughout New York State. The lack of affordable, nutritious food is negatively impacting the revitalization of many communities, and the health of New Yorkers,” said Governor Paterson.

“With too few supermarkets in neighborhoods across the five boroughs and many existing businesses shutting their doors, much of the city is being affected by supermarket shortages, and a lack of access to affordable, healthy foods,” said Speaker Quinn.

"It was established in 2008 because of concerns that New Yorkers were losing access to fresh, affordable foods. Despite a growth in population in New York City, the number of supermarkets has declined by one third in the past six years. Diabetes rates have doubled in the last 10 years. Childhood obesity has become a public health epidemic. One out of every four New Yorkers under the age of 18 is obese. In many high-poverty areas, the rate is closer to one out of three. For the first time in history, children have a lower life expectancy than their parents.

Obesity causes serious health problems, including type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. It puts children at greater risk for life-threatening conditions such as heart attacks, stroke, limb loss, and cancer, and it places an enormous strain on our healthcare system. Last year New York spent $6.1 billion to treat obesity related health problems, the second highest in the nation."



From the report Designed for Disease: The Link Between Local Food Environments and Obesity and Diabetes

"The food environments of lower-income communities and communities of color are of particular concern, given that obesity and diabetes rates are highest in these communities. Lower-income neighborhoods and communities of color have fewer grocery stores and an abundance of fastfood restaurants and convenience stores compared to higher-income and predominantly Caucasian neighborhoods. When grocery stores are not accessible—when residents do not have access to a private vehicle or reliable public transportation, or when grocery stores are not located within short walking distance—residents of these communities often resort to purchasing the generally higher-calorie, lower-nutrient foods sold at nearby convenience stores and fast-food restaurants. These disparities in food access contribute to subsequent chronic health conditions, including obesity, cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease, as well as to higher mortality rates and years of potential life lost."



From The National Fresh Food Financing Initiative

"Millions of Americans in low-income communities and communities of color walk out their front doors and see nothing but fast food and convenience stores selling high-fat, high-sugar processed foods. Residents of rural areas face a different but related challenge—a complete lack of any nearby food options at all. Americans in too many urban and rural communities must travel long distances just to access the fresh food they need to live healthy lives."