Not Havana 1977

Checking Out is a so-NYC show

Day 2 of figuring out what New York City is - by looking at what it is not.

This exercise seems weird - even to me. But when I went to my research first stop, Magnum Photography’s professional site, I realized I spend a lot of time looking at every photo from the time period I put in the search engine - eventhough they are mostly from the wrong place. The photos are wonderful and arresting. That is why I paused to look at them all the first time around, I am sure.

But, I realize that this meander through the decade stays a part of my preliminary research because it serves an important function:

It saves me the shame of generalization.

That horrible hot-eared cringe moment when I am in the audience during previews, sitting near to someone that knows I got it wrong. That I took something that fits a general “idea” of a time period but put it in the wrong place.

Like, for example, putting a man in the American south in a wool pants. Not that tropical weight wool - plain old warm wool. Ever…