[ via Bernie's posting on a newsgroup ] :
At the age of 26, Alvin Baltrop began photographing what was going on at Manhattan's West Side piers. The area, full of abandoned warehouses and dilapidated industrial piers, became a temporary home for queer teenage runaways and a cruising spot for gay men. It was a place that was under the radar. People went there to do drugs, muggings were common and so, unfortunately, were rape, murder and suicide. Baltrop's camera captured gay public sex, the public art of muralist Tava, various unknown graffiti artists, as well as pieces by David Wojnarowicz, who also visited the piers. Baltrop documented homelessness, death and the stark decay of run-down warehouses with depth and grace.
Sadly, I never heard of this photog. Or the magazine zine where the above article originally appeared, Shotgun Seamstress. FYI:Osa Atoe is the founder and executive editor of Shotgun Seamstress, a zine by and for Black punks, queers, feminists, artists and musicians.
Posted by ronn at March 27, 2009 11:38 PM