In this stunningly beautiful collection of images, master photographer Joel Meyerowitz invites the viewer to discover the hidden pockets of wilderness that still exist within the urban environs of New York City the nearly 9,000 acres of parks in the five boroughs that have been left or returned to their most natural state. This compelling body of work is the result of a unique commission Meyerowitz received from the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation to document, interpret, and celebrate one of New York City's greatest legacies for their archives. Meyerowitz drew upon his childhood memories of a New York with "green space—open and wild, alive with rabbits, migratory birds, snakes, frogs, and the occasional skunk... [That] gave me my first sense of the natural world, its temperament and its seasons, its unpredictability, and its mystery." Mayor Michael Bloomberg contributes a foreword, and renowned author Phillip Lopate expands on his notion of the urban walk-poem—deurbanized.
JOEL MEYEROWITZ (born in New York, 1938) is an award-winning photographer whose work has appeared in over 350 international exhibitions. He is a two-time Guggenheim fellow, a recipient of both NEA and NEH awards, as well as a recipient of the Deutscher Fotobuchpreis. He has published over fifteen books, including Cape Light (1978) and Aftermath: The World Trade Center Archive (2006). He lives in New York and is represented by Edwynn Houk Gallery.
PHILLIP LOPATE (essay) has written over fifteen critically acclaimed books, including Waterfront: A Walk Around Manhattan. His writings have appeared in Harper's, the New York Times, and the Paris Review. He is a professor at Columbia University and also teaches at the New School, Hofstra University, and Bennington College.
Photographs by Joel Meyerowitz
Foreword by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg
Essay by Phillip Lopate
Designed by Peter Buchanan-Smith and Francesca Richer
Hardcover
10 1/2 x 12 inches
300 pages
978-1-59711-122-5
250 four-color images
Fall 2009
Hardcover