There’s a small show happening in Brooklyn thats worth a look. It’s Thomas Murphy’s Above Brooklyn photo show. He gives us a look at the guys raising pigeons on the rooftops.
According to Wikipedia, ‘Mankind has practiced pigeon keeping for about 10,000 years in almost every part of the world’ – who would have guessed that this could be probable on the rooftops of Brooklyn. Thomas Murphy met a group of neighbors in the Spring of 2009 when he moved into an apartment adjacent to a pigeon coop. Mesmerized by a flock of up to 500 or so pigeons, Murphy formed a friendship with the pigeon flyer, only to uncover an underground subculture of pigeon fanciers. Talking to this group of men aged from 50 to 70 years old, visiting a number of local rooftops, Murphy explored a friendship as a means of garnering a first hand understanding of this dying past time. Under threats from a new generation who deem flying pigeons as ‘uncool’ combined with increased costs and new residents moving to buildings distasteful of this movement, the pigeon fancier community demanded to be preserved as a slice of Brooklyn history.
Thomas Murphy has chosen to exhibit a series of 24 images to represent over a years worth of documented encounters; each are sized at 12 x 18. Only two larger images are printed at 24 x 36, both of which, for him center the collection as the most powerful portraits of the story. The full body of work encapsulates the rapture of a hidden if not unknown example of man’s relationship with nature.
Thomas Murphy
“Above Brooklyn”
Sept. 17 – Oct. 3, 2010
Graphite
38 Marcy Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11211
Thats really neat. I would have never guessed something like this was going on for 10k years. good shit.