Menschphoto
The Photography of Barbara Mensch
"Taken in the Bronx, Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn, Mensch's street series belong to her series 'New York on Foot'. The rubric is apt. Many of the images were found while wandering, inspired by weather, or news of demolition - subjects she associated with her Brooklyn childhood."
"Although the series evolved intuitively, Mensch's New York has a particular character. Her images of industrial structures, dark alleys and working class neighborhoods recall the rough years of the 1970s and early 1980s, when industry and middle class residents fled the city, and young artists like Mensch found freedom in its abandoned buildings. Those were years when much of Manhattan felt neglected and dangerous, but rent was cheap, and the vital energies of diverse classes and ethnic groups was palpable. Mensch sees New York through the lens of her youth, which she now locates on Manhattan's fringes and outer boroughs. She finds humor in the ragged letters of old signs and beauty in graffiti-covered walls and boarded-up facades. Despite the romantic lyricism of her photographs, they are not nostalgic. they reflect the New York that Mensch inhabits. In her uniform of jeans, cotton shirts and work boots, she walks along the waterfront and in working class neighborhoods ready to photograph."
Bonnie Yochelson, December, 2012
Intoduction to New York Photographs