Josh Katz

Artist Statement:

As a photographer with a love of anthropology and urban planning, I make images exploring how people interact with spaces, whether it’s across Brooklyn rooftops during quarantine, or for this body of work, around Lower Manhattan during my summer residency for the Downtown Alliance. 

I find Lower Manhattan captivating as one of most rapidly evolving neighborhoods that constantly defies people’s expectations, from the mysteries hidden within the shadows of urban canyons to the innocent, playful moments spawning from the emerging residential population. 

As a neighborhood that most only know from 9 to 5, a well oiled machine designed to accommodate these temporary throngs, I reveled in studying the inner workings that make this possible, from the midnight cleanings of the 9/11 Memorial pools to the early morning powerwashing of DuBuffet’s Group of Four Trees. 

During this residency, I watched as Downtown came back to life. The slow trickle of office workers became a stream, masks were shed, and life returned to the streets. Yet as the summer winds to a close and Delta becomes the next big question mark, I’m left wondering if this body of work captured a Renaissance or a temporary peak in an ongoing sine curve.