Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1152740
they also loom over you as you walk through any of the park's countless paths. Home, watching over you, but powerless to help. I had imagery of what every one of those blocks looked like at the time. The neighborhood is shockingly different, transformed by gentrification, population displacement and exorbitant rents. Street vendors replaced with trust fund-friendly gourmet Americana restaurants. I had a book of imagery I create—a period exploration that I call a "feels" book. It was a deep dive into the neighborhoods, the people, the diversity, the colors, the families, the mood; children in church clothes, a mother tightening her daughter's hijab, men selling fruit on the corners, youths sitting on the tops of cars with a boom box in tow, older brothers watching their younger siblings while mom kept a watchful eye from a nearby stoop or window. There were the Newport ads with smiling black faces, the alcohol ads, the socially conscious wheat pasting, from Elijah Muhammad's Saviors' Day, to anti-crack and AIDS consciousness. This would all be tapped into when building these blocks. We saw where Kevin was hit by an officer, and the baseball fields they passed. We saw the view of the city high-rises from the reservoir. I fell going down the hill that some of the boys ran through when they were evading police. Ava helped me up. It was blisteringly hot as we finished their path. It was sad, it was depressing, it was hard not to feel vulnerable as we channeled those young men, knowing that any young black and brown boys D A A. THE SCHOMBURG TOWERS THAT OVERLOOK THE PARK. B. A MOCK-UP OF THE BARBER SHOP BY GRAPHIC DESIGNER AVERY SORRELS. SHOWING AWNING AND STOREFRONT CHANGES. C. THE BARBER SHOP AS SEEN ON CAMERA. D. BARBER SHOP INTERIOR FEATURING DETAILS OF HARLEM LIFE FOUND DURING RESEARCH. E. FLOOR PLAN FOR THE SALAAM APARTMENT. THE UNIQUE LAYOUT OF SOME OF THE SCHOMBURG APARTMENTS ALLOWED THE STAGE SET TO HAVE ANGLED WALLS AND KITCHEN CUTOUTS THAT GAVE UNIQUE ANGLES AND FRAMES. F. RESEARCH BOARD FOR YUSEF SALAAM. G. SALAAM APARTMENT, SET PHOTO. H. & I. PRODUCTION STILLS FROM THE SALAAM APARTMENT. THE BRUTALIST WEIGHT OF THE CONSTRUCTION DID NOT HAVE THE COMFORT OF ITS OCCUPANTS IN MIND, BUT THE STRENGTH OF THE HUMANS IN THESE SPACES FORCED WARMTH FROM THE BRUTAL. B C