The wonder city

New York City, late 2019.

There are places we’ve never visited yet already know—we’ve experienced them through the eyes of others. Manhattan, Harlem, Little Italy, the subway and the Midtown skyline are all part of a collective déjà vu. It becomes impossible to photograph “the wonder city” without referencing cinema or photography itself—a play of mirrors within which real life unfolds.

For this reason, the series focuses on the human figure — the only truly unpredictable element in a scene everyone has already seen.

A woman in black passes in the foreground while the white ribbed roof of the Oculus transit hall curves behind her.Tight street shot: a cropped man in grey holds keys, walking past a black SUV, brick pillar and a parking-garage sign.Between two dark silhouetted figures, a blurred woman in a red top; the Statue of Liberty stands small in the blue sky.Backlit man in silhouette on a sidewalk in Harlem; a Soul Food sign, a barber-shop banner and a passer-by with a bag.Night skyline seen through a dark window frame: lit skyscrapers and a glowing purple burst of light among the towers.Close on a yellow NYC taxi: a bald passenger sleeps against the rear window, a green curb app sticker on the glass.A gaunt bearded man in a white Y sweatshirt leans against a blue slatted shutter, cigarette in hand, torn trousers.View through a grimy window onto a low-rise outer-borough neighbourhood, a long straight street lined with parked cars.A moustached man's head, sharply lit, against a blurred subway train sliding past with streaks of light on its windows.A man eats a candy in front of a graffiti-covered pedestrian traffic light during the San Gennaro festivities in Little Italy.Rooftop at dusk: young people laughing and taking photos, the lit Midtown Manhattan skyline spread out behind them.