Streets in Play: Katrina Thomas, NYC Summer, 1968
Arsenal Gallery, NYC Parks | 2022In the turbulent summer of 1968, New York City Mayor John Lindsay’s Urban Task Force deployed a range of public programs to keep children entertained and city streets cool, and hired photographer Katrina Thomas (1927-2018) to document the city’s efforts. Between June 20 and August 14, Thomas produced nearly 1,800 images, including 500 frames focused on playstreets: residential blocks closed to traffic and equipped with games and other activities. Thomas was a freelancer, not a city staff photographer, so the negatives were her own to keep after the contract ended. Because of Thomas’ independent eye, many of the strongest images taken were not applicable to the assignment, and thus these exceptional frames were left unprinted in the photographer’s personal collection for decades.
Over thirty years later, Thomas donated the Urban Task Force negatives to New York City’s Department of Parks. It is one of the most complicated, yet revealing, bodies of imagery in the agency’s archives. The multi-layered street views show the inherent tensions and delicate balance struck between the demands of a commissioned project and the photographer’s particular perspective, as well as offering a multitude of meanings and views of city streets and play.
Co-curator, with Rebekah Burgess
Read more about the playstreets photographs here ︎︎︎
Curatorial, Arts, Public Space
︎︎︎ ︎︎︎