Gritty Gotham, 1984

Is the ‘old’ Gotham making a come-back? With his photo series ‘Gritty Gotham’, NY photographer Wyatt Abernathy “pays homage to the old New York, specifically the 1980’s, which contributed so much to the modern cultural identity of the city, and evokes a powerful nostalgia.” Don’t be fooled by the foreword, the photos were not shot in 1984, the most recent are from 2020. By looking for signs of its glorious past, Wyatt might describe the future of New York City.

Photos by Wyatt Abernathy

WYATT ABERNATHY: I moved to NYC in the mid 2000’s from a small town to the Alphabet City section of the East Village, and was immediately enamored with the neighborhood, through its culture, and its history as a bohemian ideal that has drawn generations of people here. I lived in a lot of different rooms around the neighborhood, played a lot of basketball at Tompkins Square Park, and met a lot of people who had grown up here, or had been here a lot longer than I had. It was also very clear that gentrification had transformed the neighborhood so much by the time I arrived, and even the idealized version of my imagination was the genesis of that. Obviously, it’s a trend that has accelerated over time. Naturally, all these years later, I have my own version of “you should have been here when”. I had been here for about a decade before I picked up a camera, but once I snapped my first photo of someone on 10th and C, I was hooked.

NOUVEAU YORK: 2020 was a very tough year in New York City and you’ve been here for that one!

WA: I actually think 2020 marked the beginning of a paradigm shift for the “new” New York City. I wasn’t here for September 11th, but I’ve never felt the kind of collective fear and uncertainty that I experienced during the Spring of 2020. Just as 9/11 changed the ethos of the city, I think it’s clear that so too will the Covid19 pandemic. I think a chapter of the city which began with one catastrophic event ended with another, and it’s obvious that things will never be the same going forward. 

NY: Did the old New York, ‘Gritty Gotham’ as you call it, come back in 2020?

WA: I think elements of the “old” New York emerged in 2020. There was a narrative that the city became a lot more dangerous, which, I suppose is true. It certainly became a more chaotic and energetic place, which are adjectives that people often use to describe their nostalgia for the “old” New York. The explosion of activism this summer was unlike anything I had ever seen, and it was both unifying and polarizing for the city, depending on your point of view. It created a palpable tension. As a result of everything, there was noticeably less “government” and infrastructure around the city. There was the perceived exodus from the city by some, to which a lot of us said, “good riddance”. I just think that a lot of people in certain pockets of the city had their fantasies disrupted. Hopefully, we’ll see a creative renaissance here once everyone has had time to adjust and process. 

“Gritty Gotham is my expression of gratitude to New York City.”

NY: Maybe the old New York never disappeared and you just needed to look for it.

WA: I don’t think it’s the case that ‘Gritty Gotham’ ever totally disappeared. I think it was just pushed to the margins, and you summarized it perfectly, you just need to look for it. That was my idea: I wanted to immortalize the people of the city in my own way, and I wanted to capture the feeling that I got from all the amazing images I saw of the gritty “good old days”. I wanted to pay tribute to the people who represented its modern equivalent. Also, it was early in the Trump days, so the dystopian overlap of 1984 [the science fiction novel by George Orwell] felt appropriate. I could go on, but ultimately, ‘Gritty Gotham’ is my expression of gratitude to New York City.

NY: How do you select people you want to photograph?

WA: Quite simply, I just look for people that fit the parameters of the concept. It’s easy when someone is dressed in a vintage style that is emblematic of the 1980’s. I don’t always adhere strictly to that, because it would be too limiting. I’m interested in anyone with an expressive style that isn’t explicitly modern, or people on the fringes in some way, in both the positive and negative interpretations of that idea. People are always on their phones, so I ask them to put it in their pocket, and I try to avoid having cars in the frame. I find those two things to be the biggest signifiers, or time stamps. 

NY: Could you give us one example of a gritty New Yorker?

WA: So many. I could run down a list of names of regular people, but the first public figure that comes to mind is Spike Lee. He’s from here, he never left, and reps the city as unapologetically as anyone I can think of. He does everything his way, which is a New York cliché that rings true. He has such a unique point of view and his work is unquestionably identifiable. You can tell that he loves this place, even while, like a lot of us, constantly addressing the things that he hates about it. 

“For whatever reason, the people who I feel compelled to photograph are also people who are down to have their photo taken.” 

NY: You said Jacob Riis is an inspiration. Did you know about him before moving to NYC?

WA: In Alphabet City, on Avenue D, there are houses named after Jacob Riis. I had never looked him up until after I started shooting, 10 years after moving here, and I discovered that he was arguably the first NYC street photographer. Since then I’ve become inspired by his work, he was definitely a pioneer, and focused his lens (compassionately) on people that weren’t being documented, the “other half” as he described it. I mentioned him because maybe I had absorbed some of that spirit through my time living in and around the neighborhoods that he photographed. My influences prior to becoming a photographer were mostly filmmakers, but since starting, I’ve been influenced by people like Jamel Shabazz and Richard Sandler, amazing photographers who were actually making photographs during the time period that I’m paying homage to. 

NY: Tell us about the first time you took a camera and started making portraits in the streets. What was the spark?

WA: I bought a camera for what I had intended to use for video projects, possibly to make extra money freelancing, or just to practice. I went out into the neighborhood, and I started taking photos. The experience of looking through the viewfinder was addicting, and I was enamored by the quality of the images I got, even as a total novice. Specifically, I remember being on the corner of 10th and C and taking a photo of a man in a classic Cadillac, looking up at the stoplight, waiting for it to turn green. There was a story in the image, and to me, it looked like a relic of the past, which was the spark of my love for photography as well as the genesis of the ‘Gritty Gotham’ concept. It’s the first photo in my IG gallery, and while I’m kind of embarrassed by the early shots, I like that you can track the progression. 

NY: Could you tell us about your working process?

WA: My process is really simple. I just get out there, that’s the most important thing. When I started, I lived in Manhattan, and would just walk everywhere. Now, I live in Brooklyn, and I have a bike, so I can cover more ground, but it makes it harder to react quickly, so there are pros and cons.

NY: How do you approach people you want to photograph?

WA: I just approach people directly, and usually ask, “Can I take a photo of you?”. Then, they usually ask, “why?” or, “for what?”. And I say, “I take photos of people”, which is the truth, and in a lot of cases, seems to be a satisfying enough answer for them. I’m always surprised by how many people say yes. I think, for whatever reason, the people who I feel compelled to photograph are also people who are down to have their photo taken. I probably would say no if I were asked, but I don’t know, I don’t think I’ve ever been asked.

NY: What about the quotes that come with the pictures?

WA: The quotes are all written by me. It’s sort of ambiguous as to whether it’s supposed to be the voice of the people in the photographs, or my inner monologue. I aspire to capture the essence of what the people in the photos might say or feel. I draw from elements of our encounter, or, for lack of a better way to describe it, what the photos say to me. Sometimes I reference aspects of the novel, or moments in history from 1984, especially when I can match it to the day it was posted, or if it resonates with current themes. For example, there are some parallels between the emergence of the AIDs epidemic and the Covid pandemic. I had a caption that reflected that. I hope it’s not offensive to say that.

NY: Wyatt Abernathy is a pseudonym and you keep some mystery about yourself. What can we know about you? 

WA: I don’t know what there is to say about myself that’s interesting. I suppose that overall, even though I hate how this term is used, I love storytelling, and that’s a throughline from my photography to my professional work and to how I process the world in general. I’ve done a variety of different kinds of work in my profession, but a lot of it has been spent making documentaries, in various forms. I also used to spend a ton of time playing pickup basketball in the city, which I loved doing, not just because it kept me in shape, but it allowed me to meet people I never would have otherwise, and hear all kinds of crazy stories. I think the sum of that experience has informed my photography. If anyone wants to know more, my DMs are open, as they say.