“End of the Line” is a composite portrait of New York City through the lens of the 44 communities that lie at the last stops of NYC subway lines, from the Rockaways to the Bronx. For over ten years, I rode each line to its end to photograph the people, places, and communities who reside there.
Complementing the photographs is an original geospatial demographic analysis done with Columbia University Urban Studies faculty. It compares each of the 44 communities and the city at large, with detailed data on income, transit, ethnicity, national origin, age etc. for a half-mile radius around each of the 44 termini.
When I moved to NYC in 2011, I decided to explore the city deeply. On a given Saturday, I’d pick a subway line, ride to its last stop, and prowl with my cameras, letting impulse and the neighborhood guide me. I encountered worlds I never knew existed.
Locals bought me drinks, spun yarns, and told me where to eat. Through shooting 70,000+ photos over more than a decade, I’ve captured parts of New York before they disappear. I found the last Irish bar in a Bronx neighborhood that once sported scores of them — the owner, now past his 50th year behind the bar, purchased its precursor bar “The Gay Doom” in the 1960s.
I’ve also encountered myriad cultures that are thriving, but unknown to most New Yorkers. EOTL is about celebrating what Mayor David Dinkins called the “gorgeous mosaic” of NYC: how glorious, strange, multifaceted, and unfathomable the city is.
Artist Bios
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Taylor Chapman
Taylor Chapman (b. 1983) is an artist whose work explores distinctive communities and the circumstances that shape them. A sixth-generation Texan, Taylor was deeply influenced by Texas’s fierce sense of place and by his father, who taught him darkroom photography in a converted bathroom at the age of 16. After studying photography at Yale, Taylor spent years, while working as a teacher, documenting the places where he taught, including high-poverty regions of the American South and rural Japan.
His bodies of work include “Quanah”, exploring a dying Texas town where many American historical narratives collide; “People of the 21st Century,” a portrait of Japanese society via 500+ individuals from all walks of life, drawing inspiration from the work of August Sander; “On the Road,” chronicling Taylor’s 500-mile walk on the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage; “Roundup,” which explores the world’s largest Rattlesnake Roundup in Sweetwater, Texas, with its 5,000 live snakes, beauty pageants, and gun shows; and “End of The Line,” documenting the 44 communities at the final stops of NYC’s subways.
Taylor’s photography has been exhibited in Japan and the United States; has won prizes at Yale and from the Summerlee Foundation; and has been featured in ArtNet, i-D Magazine, office Magazine, the Brooklyn Reader, Huck Magazine, and more.
Organizations
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Photoville
Founded in 2011 in Brooklyn, NY, Photoville was built on the principles of addressing cultural equity and inclusion, which we are always striving for, by ensuring that the artists we exhibit are diverse in gender, class, and race.
In pursuit of its mission, Photoville produces an annual, city-wide open air photography festival in New York City, a wide range of free educational community initiatives, and a nationwide program of public art exhibitions.
By activating public spaces, amplifying visual storytellers, and creating unique and highly innovative exhibition and programming environments, we join the cause of nurturing a new lens of representation.
Through creative partnerships with festivals, city agencies, and other nonprofit organizations, Photoville offers visual storytellers, educators, and students financial support, mentorship, and promotional & production resources, on a range of exhibition opportunities.
For more information about Photoville visit, www.photoville.com
End of the Line
Featuring: Taylor Chapman
Locations
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View Location Details Download a detailed map of this location Brooklyn Bridge Park – Emily Warren Roebling Plaza1 Water St
Brooklyn, NY 11201
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