Artist Statement: 
This project visualizes the sacred and everyday lives of people from “The Town”—a metaphor and nickname for Syracuse, New York created by its Black residents. The Town represents large, vibrant pockets of community considered marginalized and often invisible to outsiders. This collection of stories, an ongoing documentary series and still image archive, pays tribute to the people and places embodying its existence.

In the media, commonplace images of Black and Brown neighborhoods, typecast as “the inner city,” focus on crime, poverty, violence, etc., render the people invisible by failing to recognize their dimensions of joy and resilience. This project, visual Anthropology at its core, offers an intimate perspective on The Town and a counter-narrative to the one-dimensional portrayal of Black and Brown communities across the United States.

Syracuse is a reflection of how systemic racism stratified many American cities—decades of redlining, gentrification, incarceration, and job loss meant the decline of neighborhood shops, supermarkets, and historic residences. For example, in the 1950s and 60s, the 15^th Ward, a thriving Black and Jewish community built around clubs, churches, and businesses, was leveled to make way for the construction of I-81. In 2017, Syracuse’s poverty rate (32.4%) tied for ninth in the nation with Bloomington, Indiana and Dearborn, Michigan.[1] That Federal prosecutors use RICO laws to target and destabilize Black neighborhoods, fragmenting families by sending dozens from a single community to prison exemplifies the extent of institutionalized racism. Consequently, most people in The Town know someone who has been to prison.

André “Ralow” Wilson, a neighborhood griot, first heard his home called The Town while incarcerated across New York State. “I think it started in prison and ended out in the street and it just stayed there,” he said. Prisoners communicate using their hometown monikers and the vernacular flows into the streets. “When you from The Town, it’s a town thing,” says Ralow. “Even though Syracuse is small it’s still big enough that everybody don’t know everybody, so when you see an individual that may look familiar, ‘Yo, you from The Town?’ It’s not a question of what town they’re from but without hesitation, ‘Yeah, I’m from The Town.’ We doing shit that big cities are doing. We doing shit that big cities ain’t doing. There’s no place like The Town. Don’t take my word for it, ask around.” This project began around 2014, evolving into a long-term collaboration, including documentary series with Ralow and various people and places within The Town.

The Town is not unique to Syracuse. It could be used in conversation to identify an outsider or as a way of distinguishing someone from the block. People in other cities may use different codes or share ours. The Town will resonant among many communities and individuals across the county and globe. This project offers a distinct perspective aimed at countering forces of systemic oppression, simply by showing people’s everyday lives.


[1] Breidenbach, Michelle. “Syracuse makes list no one wants to be on: Top 10 U.S. cities with highest poverty.”  Syracuse.com, September 13, 2018.