Did you know that the Bronx's Hart Island, pictured above in an 1890 photograph by Jacob Riis, was used a cemetery from the Civil War era right up till the middle of the 20th century? That, pre-La Guardia, there used to be another airport on the other side of Flushing Bay? That oysters used to abound in New York city's waterways? That the abandoned North Brother Island in the East River was home to the famed Typhoid Mary? That anything of creative merit could hail from polluted Newtown Creek? We could continue, but then we'd be spoiling the whole point of a new exhibit mounted at St. John's University, which is to inform, entertain, and impress viewers with views of the city's little-known shoreline haunts. Curated by professor Elizabeth Albert, "Silent Beaches, Untold Stories: New York City's Forgotten Waterfront" uses artifacts from historic photographs to contemporary works of art in video and multimedia to tell the stories of these oft-forgotten?and off-the-beaten-path?places. Here now, a preview.
· Silent Beaches, Untold Stories: New York City's Forgotten Waterfront [official]
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