We the People: The Citizens of NYCHA in Photos + Words
We the People: The Citizens of NYCHA in Photos + Words 
By Rico Washington & Shino Yanagawa
December 10, 2013 - January 5, 2014
chashama 443 Windows Gallery
443 West 127th Street
New York, NY
Journalist Rico Washington (Ebony.com, Okayplayer, Wax Poetics) and photographer Shino Yanagawa (GQ-Japan, Harper's Bazaar-Japan, Nylon-Japan) fuse their individual sociocultural and career experiences on a collaborative palate of insightful photojournalism with We The People: The Citizens of NYCHA in Photos + Words.
Inspired by the documentarian works of Jacob Riis, Gordon Parks, and Ruiko Yoshida, Washington and Yanagawa brazenly explore the varied stigmas and stereotypes applied to blacks and Latinos residing in New York City’s public housing community. At the impetuous hands of yellow journalism, sensationalist media, political baiting tactics, and increasing gentrification, residents of housing projects have become a marginalized populace.
With the help of still photography, video loops, and text, We The People skillfully examines the complexities at the crossroads of self-identity, stigma, struggle, and transcendence. Washington and Yanagawa interviewed and photographed over 50 current and former New York City public housing residents throughout New York City’s five boroughs. The project includes interviews from such revered former NYCHA residents as lauded photographer Jamel Shabazz, esteemed author/ filmmaker Nelson George, actor/ Hip-Hop artist Yasiin Bey (formerly known as Mos Def), two-time Emmy Award-winning news reporter/ Young Lords co-founder Felipe Luciano, Hip-Hop icon Afrika Bambaataa, Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Dennis Watlington, and many more.
In late 2010, We The People exhibited at the World Festival of Black Arts & Cultures in Dakar, Senegal. In the spring of 2013, the project was on exhibit at the Gordon Parks Gallery in New York City.
For more information, please visit their website or Facebook page.
By Rico Washington & Shino Yanagawa
December 10, 2013 - January 5, 2014
chashama 443 Windows Gallery
443 West 127th Street
New York, NY
Journalist Rico Washington (Ebony.com, Okayplayer, Wax Poetics) and photographer Shino Yanagawa (GQ-Japan, Harper's Bazaar-Japan, Nylon-Japan) fuse their individual sociocultural and career experiences on a collaborative palate of insightful photojournalism with We The People: The Citizens of NYCHA in Photos + Words.
Inspired by the documentarian works of Jacob Riis, Gordon Parks, and Ruiko Yoshida, Washington and Yanagawa brazenly explore the varied stigmas and stereotypes applied to blacks and Latinos residing in New York City’s public housing community. At the impetuous hands of yellow journalism, sensationalist media, political baiting tactics, and increasing gentrification, residents of housing projects have become a marginalized populace.
With the help of still photography, video loops, and text, We The People skillfully examines the complexities at the crossroads of self-identity, stigma, struggle, and transcendence. Washington and Yanagawa interviewed and photographed over 50 current and former New York City public housing residents throughout New York City’s five boroughs. The project includes interviews from such revered former NYCHA residents as lauded photographer Jamel Shabazz, esteemed author/ filmmaker Nelson George, actor/ Hip-Hop artist Yasiin Bey (formerly known as Mos Def), two-time Emmy Award-winning news reporter/ Young Lords co-founder Felipe Luciano, Hip-Hop icon Afrika Bambaataa, Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Dennis Watlington, and many more.
In late 2010, We The People exhibited at the World Festival of Black Arts & Cultures in Dakar, Senegal. In the spring of 2013, the project was on exhibit at the Gordon Parks Gallery in New York City.
For more information, please visit their website or Facebook page.
