Still, New York
Language: English
2020–2021
135 pages
Laser Printed at the Design Lab at the Parsons School of Design
Typefaces: Neue Haas Grotesk
“Still, New York” is a book that exhibits a visual and verbal narrative documenting a selection of personal experiences before, during, and after the COVID lockdown period from 2019-2021. This book first shares my perspective of an eighteen year old coming to New York for college, a nineteen year old experiencing mental health challenges during a global health crisis, and a twenty year old figuring out how to re-adapt to a society that’s eager to prematurely recover from a pandemic.
In the form of an 8 in. x 10 in. rubber band-bound paperback book, “Still, New York” explores the idea of finding stillness in moving environments, such as New York City, but also in a more abstract regard, such as within the neurodivergent brain. Through the use of smaller page inserts that blend in with their parent pages, or spreads, I use materiality, photography, and typography to share my experiences with love, mental illness, and spirituality. The small page inserts resemble the attempt to pack more into a single space, a defining aspect of New York. The small page inserts give the reader materiality to interact with, one of the many lost experiences during COVID-19 lockdown.
“Still, New York” is my medium for being vulnerable. It is my documentation of time spent in anxiety, uncertainty, certainty, and intimacy. Through curated storytelling, I aim to raise mental health awareness and give representation to people within the realm of racial and religious identity. This book exposes comfortability with vulnerability, a key message within my work. Our capitalist society was not designed for us to question and to come to terms with our own identities. Capitalism has not given us the space to be still and to acknowledge the feelings that surround us when we begin to explore who we really are. In “Still, New York,” I tell the story of a personal human experience, only hoping that the reader can find acceptance and comfort in embracing vulnerability as the root of meaningful human connection, with each other and with ourselves.
In the form of an 8 in. x 10 in. rubber band-bound paperback book, “Still, New York” explores the idea of finding stillness in moving environments, such as New York City, but also in a more abstract regard, such as within the neurodivergent brain. Through the use of smaller page inserts that blend in with their parent pages, or spreads, I use materiality, photography, and typography to share my experiences with love, mental illness, and spirituality. The small page inserts resemble the attempt to pack more into a single space, a defining aspect of New York. The small page inserts give the reader materiality to interact with, one of the many lost experiences during COVID-19 lockdown.
“Still, New York” is my medium for being vulnerable. It is my documentation of time spent in anxiety, uncertainty, certainty, and intimacy. Through curated storytelling, I aim to raise mental health awareness and give representation to people within the realm of racial and religious identity. This book exposes comfortability with vulnerability, a key message within my work. Our capitalist society was not designed for us to question and to come to terms with our own identities. Capitalism has not given us the space to be still and to acknowledge the feelings that surround us when we begin to explore who we really are. In “Still, New York,” I tell the story of a personal human experience, only hoping that the reader can find acceptance and comfort in embracing vulnerability as the root of meaningful human connection, with each other and with ourselves.
