Girls, Ornaments, and Vacant Lot

Dawoud Bey: One of the things that was beginning to happen in Harlem was that there were these, as I called them, spaces where something used to be. And when those places are completely obliterated, when they're torn down and you end up with a vacant lot, there’s a kind of disruption of place memory. Because at some point, even if you know the community well, you can’t quite remember what used to be there. And that to me was a profound experience. 

Narrator: Bey made Harlem Redux about four decades after getting his start in the neighborhood. In the earlier series he focused on the community’s people. Later—in the face of gentrification—he turned his lens more towards its physical spaces. With its faded hair care advertisements featuring images of African American girls, this photograph captures traces of Harlem’s disappearing past. 

Dawoud Bey: And then there’s this gaping hole next to them of the vacant lot where something that was, was torn down. Part of that narrative is everyone knows what’s eventually going to occupy that vacant lot. It’s not going to be a mom and pop store. It’s going to be another luxury condo building or luxury apartment rental.