4x5" Kodak Portra 160NC
There is no greater disparity between rich and poor in Americancities than in New York. Evidence of this divide becomes clear instatistics comparing New Yorkers socioeconomic statuses with self-reported health records. Reportsshow that low-income households have the highest reported rates ofpoor health and illness, while high-income households report the lowest rates. This disparity has become one of the biggest debates in public health. In an attempt to bridge this gap, programs like New York City’s Green Cart Initiative have emerged to provide access to affordable and healthy food options in underserved neighborhoods.
In an attempt to illustrate the relationship between illness and socioeconomic status, I set out to create a visual record of the food options that surround the Green Carts. These photographs were made over thecourse of a year within specific geographic boundaries where the highest reported instances of poverty, obesity, diabetes, and people living without health insurance overlap with the placement of the Green Carts. I’m interested in the impact the fruit and vegetable carts will have on these areas and how they will compete with the neighborhoods’ established food institutions. As our country adapts to a struggling economy and we debate healthcare, the severity of these national issues can be seen on a local level through the Green Cart Initiative and its influence on New York City’s most economically challenged neighborhoods.
Will Steacy was born in New Haven, CT. He graduated from New York University with a BFA in 2003, and worked as a union laborer before becoming a photographer. His photographs have been exhibited in numerous galleries and museums, including Michael Mazzeo Gallery, the 2009 New York Photo Festival, Galerie Art Mur in Montreal, and the Griffin Museum of Photography in Winchester, Massachusetts; his work is included in many collections, private and public. In 2006, Steacy was include in the book 25 Under 25: Up-and-Coming American Photographers, Volume 2 by powerHouse Books and the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. In 2008, he won the Magenta Foundation’s Emerging Photographers Competition and was a recipient of a Tierney Fellowship. He lives and works in New York.
http://www.willsteacy.com/
