VACANT SERIES

When history, spaces, and places are systematically and systemically erased, a void emerges. What once was once and what is to come echoe through the void — in an unseen, separate dimension, a metaphysical space. to find the metaphysical space, the space between the past and the present, step into the portal of vacant.

The VACANT series displays spaces and places that are disappearing due to gentrification and the commodification of housing and public space.

The first part of the VACANT series takes you through Manhattan’s Garment District (before 2020), avenues upon avenues of empty storefronts, and details the transformation of an industry-based neighborhood to a new real estate hot spot.

Disappearing storefronts and mannequins are your guide.

As textile shops liquidate, mannequins disappear from storefronts — signaling the erasure of a neighborhood. People are displaced and communities vanish to make way for the new and superfluous: office buildings and hotels.

Reflect on what has been lost through the portal of VACANT.