{"id":5940,"date":"2020-09-21T21:24:18","date_gmt":"2020-09-22T01:24:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/art-bridge.org\/?p=5940"},"modified":"2021-02-23T11:48:45","modified_gmt":"2021-02-23T16:48:45","slug":"brooklyn-photographer-shows-the-best-of-red-hook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/art-bridge.org\/brooklyn-photographer-shows-the-best-of-red-hook\/","title":{"rendered":"Brooklyn Photographer Shows The Best of Red Hook"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Alden Parkinson Talks About The Beauty of Red Hook People Rarely See.<\/strong><\/p>

\"Alden Alden Parkinson in front of one of his photos in Red Hook, Brooklyn. Photo by Pascal DuBois<\/p>

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Bridging the Divide<\/a><\/strong><\/span> is a series of ongoing artist residencies at New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) <\/a><\/span><\/strong>developments throughout NYC. NYCHA provides affordable housing for 400,000 lower-income New Yorkers. Through this program, artists engage with residents through a variety of workshops and create artworks that amplify the voices of residents.<\/em><\/p>

This is an interview with one of the artist fellows, Alden Parkinson<\/a><\/strong><\/span>, a photographer and native of The Red Hook Houses. Alden was interviewed by Pascal DuBois, ArtBridge\u2019s Director of Communications and Development.<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>

When<\/strong> did you commit to being an artist?<\/strong><\/h3>

I felt I was an artist my whole life. I started making beats, which is an entirely different kind of art. I was so committed to doing it and kept doing it and I got very good at it and I thought, \u201cYou know what? Let me try something different.\u201d I went from one talent to the next and then photography came out of nowhere, which is weird because I kinda did not like taking pictures. I joined a program at a Red Hook nonprofit, The Red Hook Initiative<\/strong><\/span><\/a>. They saw [my] potential and I saw it too and [decided] I was gonna run with it.<\/p>

At the beginning of being an artist,<\/strong> what brought you the most joy?<\/strong><\/h3>

I did pictures of an event in the neighborhood years ago when I first started out. The reaction of the people was amazing and those photos had an impact on them. If I could do that for them and I could imagine doing that with other people at their weddings, baby showers. I wanted to be a part of their memories they carried for the rest of their lives. I loved the reactions man, the reactions did it for me.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Photo by Alden Parkinson of Quashawn Harper, his former photography student<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Do you have<\/strong> moments of doubt in your work?<\/strong><\/h3>

Yeah, definitely. There was one gig, a wedding in Puerto Rico, I turned down. I wanted to make sure to leave them happy, I didn\u2019t want to disappoint them. My confidence level wasn\u2019t there at the time, I quickly turned it down. They offered to pay my way there. I thought, \u201cDamn, man, I now really have to perform like a photographer for them.\u201d It wasn\u2019t the time for me, fortunately, they understood that [but I knew] I had to sit down, think, and go super hard and learn. Now, I would never turn a job down, ever, my confidence is where it needs to be.<\/p>

What about this neighborhood<\/strong> helped you to create this work?<\/strong><\/h3>

It\u2019s the people. The people do so much for the neighborhood in their own way, that\u2019s why I wanted to showcase them. A lot of people outside of Red Hook <\/a><\/span><\/strong>don\u2019t know anything about it except for IKEA or some people talk about Red Hook like it\u2019s the 1980s when it was really bad. When people drive by here I want them to see that there is more to [Red Hook] that people haven\u2019t seen yet. I want to spark conversation with people who are not from here [when looking at a photo] and wonder, \u201cOh, who\u2019s that, that\u2019s interesting?\u201d<\/p><\/div><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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