New York_Chuck and Lisa (street names) at their home in one of New York City's train tunnels. They have lived in the tunnel for more then seven years, Chuck for more then ten.
New York_Chuck returns to the tunnel with some food.
New York_ Chuck (street name) has lived inside the walls of one of New York City's train tunnels tunnel since 2000.
New York_Lisa collects cans to trade in for money
New York_Chuck reads on the tracks near his home while he waits for for his companion.
New York_Lisa collects scrap from garbage. She can be arrested for trespassing and theft.
NewYork_One of Chucks jobs is collecting metal to sell at a scrapyard.
New York_Lisa and Chuck share a meal at a restaurant when possible.
New York_Chuck and Lisa fight half in fun, half in earnest.
New York_Lisa and her companion in the hospital after she was raped and asaulted returning home from work.
New York_Lisa meets her grandson for the first time
New York_ Lisa, several montha pregnant, finds some things for the baby she will have.
New York_ One of Lisa's jobs is loading cans and bottles onto a truck for recycling.
New York_ Chuck and Lisa on their way to register for shelter housing. A first step in the process of obtaining their own apartment.
New York_According to Lisa she has and continues to make efforts to better her life.
New York _Chuck visits the site of his first home in the tunnel. He is checking for signs of occupation.
New York_Lisa and Chuck at the entrance of their home in the tunnel watch as people, either grafetti writers or curious outsiders enter the tunnel. According to Lisa, pedestrian traffic could trigger an eviction by Amtrak or by the police.
New York_ Chuck, evicted by Amtrak train company authorities accompanied by New York City Police from his encampment in the train tunnel says he is now "truely homeless".
New York_Brooklyn has lived in a New York City train tunnel since 1982
New York_ Brooklyn sorts through a bag of bottles because stores will only accept certain brands for recycling.
New York_Sade is one of the tunnel's feral cats. Currently she shares her home with six other cats and Brooklyn.
New York_Brooklyn found her home by following some of the feral cats that she had been feeding.
New York_One of Brooklyn's jobs is to sing and dance out outside of bars and clubs. She also sweeps and takes out the garbage.
New York_Brooklyn
New York_ The shadows of the dead-end street known as the Batcave are made by the bridge overhead and surrounding buildings. It is a gathering place for men and women.
New York_ Willy has lived in a box on New York City streets since 2004. Before that he lived under track thirteen in a train station.
New York_Willy's home
New York_Jamaica and Zoe (street names) have sought refuge in New York subway tunnels for more then five years.
New York_Jamaica and Zoe are newly engaged. Supported by family they will leave the tunnel for housing soon.
New York _A religious man, Steve (street name) always prays after using.
New York _Steve and a friend in the Batcave
New York_Geo (street name) takes a "homeless" shower.
New York_City Sanitation workers clean out the Batcave. The men and women have been told to leave and not to return.
New York_Two of New York City's homeless men and women collect metal from a building to sell.
New York_Two of New York City's homeless men and women collect metal from a building to sell.
New York_ Snow White
New York_Snow White attempts to park cars in the Batcave. She will ask for a donation.
New York_ Snow White helps Krissy who is sick to dress. According to Snow White a drug dealer hit her.
New York_ In exchange for the use of a friend's shower, Snow White (street name) leaves the door open.
New York_ Country and Snow White (street names).
New York_ Country watches the river from his home in a building sometimes known as the Whitehouse.
New York_ Snow White is placed into housing in a midtown SRO hotel by CUCS, Center for Urban Community Services.
New York_Dollar Bill (street name) reads a notice to the tenents in the hallway of his new residence.
New York_ Krissy
New York_ Krissy Has trouble getting the perscription medication she needs.
New York_ Krissy and a man who has come seeking her. Despite her illness, the men still come.
New York_ After some men have brutalized her when she was in bad shape her friends take turns watching out for her so that she wil stay safe.
New York_ Krissy rubbs the sores on her back.
New York_ Krissy rubbs the sores on her back.
New York_ Krissy 's third visit to a hospital over a few months time. She is still not prescribed her the medications essential to treat her condition. Without them she will eventually die. According to her Doctors, they will have to be prescribed by an outside program that can monitor her.
New York_ Krissy 's third visit to a hospital over a few months time. She is still not prescribed her the medications essential to treat her condition. Without them she will eventually die. According to her Doctors, they will have to be prescribed by an outside program that can monitor her.
New York_Krissy is placed into supervised housing by CUCS, Center for Urban Community Services.
Since 2007 I have been working on The Urban Cave, a story about the resilience and humanity of people who live “homeless” on the other side of conventional society. It is about a group of individuals and the spectrum of their lives, rather than their deprivations.
This series of 35mm digital prints comes from time spent on the street following unsheltered men and women who are part of an illusive culture not always considered with sympathy, and yet who accept my company. Homeless men and women continue to cooperate with me out of a desire to tell their story. Sometimes they just tell me to follow them. I wait months for things to occur naturally and for trust to develop so that I can go deeper. I never know what will happen or whom I will find.It is essential to me that I shoot in a way that always communicates respect and preserves the contrast and quality of light and shadow. The images are my response to the beauty of a place, a people, and the dignity, determination, and perseverance of this particular long-term homeless culture.Currently most of the people I follow, have been placed in housing or are on track to receive their own apartments, many through CUCS, Center for Urban Community Services, a non-governmental NGO.
Lisa and her companion Chuck have been living together in the Amtrak tunnel for more than seven years. Of all the men and women I covered, Lisa has been on the street the longest. “After a while when people live like this it gets to be OK. That scares me more than anything. How can living like this ever be OK?” Lisa is adamant she wants out. She does not want to die on the streets.
Country runs the short, dead end street, called “The Batcave.” All hours, day and night, people come and go seeking its shadows. The faces change. Some leave for treatment, jail, family, and now, housing. Others just leave. Many return. According to Snow White, it is a safe place for women seeking refuge. Despite the hardships and the uncertainties of his life, Country stays because of “the beauty of it. I love the street.”
Willy lives in a cardboard box on 34th street just down from Amtrak Railroad’s Penn Station. Willy used to live under Track 13. Evicted from his home on the rails after 9/11, Willy is only comfortable sleeping in a box. The sound of trains passing below penetrates the concrete beneath him.
Fragile and resilient, tragic and beautiful, self-destructive yet surviving, these homeless men and women are just people. Neither more than us, nor less than us they are a part of us. And they are apart from us. Nothing is simple in the shadows of the street.
“Don’t call me homeless” –Country
Andrea Star’s Profile
Connect
