Harlem Valley / Wingdale Project

Since receiving my first camera as a child, I have loved visual paradox (making visible what's there but hidden somehow) and that theme seems to be one of the common threads throughout my work. The Harlem Valley / Wingdale Project is no exception. I am drawn to the incredibly paradoxical beauty as expressed in the slow transformation from man-made order into the beauty of natural chaos. These photographs submitted were taken from the over 5,000 images taken over the last 3 years inside, (with permission and inside a HazMat suit) subtracting formalized and often abstract beauty from the chaos inside. Opened in 1924, the buildings at Harlem Valley have been abandoned since its closing in 1994.

The interiors of many of the buildings in the complex are toxic. The air is filled with mold (from long standing water), and asbestos and lead paint cover the floors.