Exhibitions: Click! A Crowd-Curated Exhibition

Nathan Kensinger. Inside the Drydock - Red Hook, Brooklyn, 2006. All rights reserved

Artist Statement

This photograph was taken inside a shipyard in Red Hook, Brooklyn where boats were still being repaired. Shortly after this photo was taken, the drydock was filled in with rocks and sand. It is now a parking lot for a huge Ikea furniture store. This photograph is from a much larger series documenting the destruction of Brooklyn’s industrial waterfront. In the past few years, a glut of exclusive new developments, like the Atlantic Yards project, have threatened to replace many historic neighborhoods with luxury condominiums and shopping centers. Brooklyn's history as a thriving waterfront port is quickly being erased.

22 Comments

This image beautifully captures the grace and history of our Brooklyn waterfront.

Very, very nice shot - I dig it immensely. Well composed, and very poignant.

this photograph is excellent and fitting for the exhibit

This feels like a site of ancient ruins, and as noted, it has been filled in and paved over to make a parking lot. It feels like the broken hull of a roman ship and is quite evocative

Gripping, and very well done.

I love the scope and sense of depth of the photo. Looking at it really made me feel like I was in the bowels of a ship with the top portion removed to expose the sky. My / Our beloved Brooklyn is changing all too fast. These will be the only photographic memories left to pay homage to Brooklyn.

excellent

I like the composition of this, but if relies on the text explanation for context, is it really a successful image in relation to the them? Without the text, it's an interesting but not symbolic image.

How are we to know this no longer exists?

decay is no longer honoured in society, this image is gives this universal process a place to exist, and these places are part of our world. Their existence is meditative.

I am bored by this false nostalgia for the fading past, as though only the artist has any real sensibilities. But this is a beautiful image, and conveys some genuine melancholy, as opposed to mere sentimentality

Perhaps as a last-ditched effort to "save" the neighborhood's rich heritage the developers could use your series of photographs in lobby displays of new buildings. Just as time itself moves on, we are confronted with change. We don't have to like it, sometimes just recording it as you splendidly do here is enough to feed our nostalgic souls.

more of an old face rather than changing face (at least without the explanation), but a great photo

Love the viewpoint.

this artists work is also being featured at the Brooklyn Library, right down the street at Grand Army Plaza! — Posted by anonymous

Amazing space. Great vanishing point. — Posted by J P

Its crazy that this was destroyed by Ikea. What were they thinking? — Posted by Susan

nice!!! — Posted by luis

this looks nice :] — Posted by Christina

wow — Posted by Courtney

BROOKLY — Posted by DONALD

I just love it! The before and soon we will see the after I am sure. Very nice to see Brooklyn at its worst then at its best-Touro Student — Posted by Sharon