Midnight in the People’s Garden
Night Photos from NYC Community Gardens
By Clare Gemina
White Hot Magazine
Nov 27, 2023
Excerpt:
Through his lens, Hirose captures the enigmatic beauty of New York City’s community gardens after dark, providing a rare and intriguing perspective on these urban oases. Hirose shares stories behind each photograph, offering a glimpse into the intricate tapestry of life that unfolds when the sun sets. His work not only showcases the aesthetic allure of these community spaces under the night sky but also boldly delves into the social and environmental aspects that make them vital hubs within the city. Throughout my discussion with Hirose, I made an attempt to explore the intersection of his artistry and activism, and to unravel the significance of his romantic midnight captures of community gardens that never, ever seem to sleep.
George Hirose: By nature, I am a night person which is one of the reasons I like to live in NYC. I had been doing night photography seriously since around 2004, and I published a book of night photographs about Provincetown, MA called Blue Nights in 2008 which required repeated trips up to Cape Cod. I then decided to concentrate on a project closer to home and began to seriously document the East Village and Lower East Side where I had been volunteering at multiple community gardens. Having been in the area since the late 1970’s, I remember the neighborhood as a decimated place strewn with empty lots filled with trash and rubble.
